Elena The Ripper
by November Fatale
Summary: "The wind picked up as she raced through the forest trail, trying to escape the vision of those cerulean eyes that had set her nerves on fire tonight and so many other times before."
1. Chapter 1: Future Starts Slow

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries which includes both the book and T.V. series. Only L.J. smith owns the character's and anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries series. I merely am writing a fanfiction plot I came up with and **_any made up character's that aren't affiliated with Vampire Diaries I do own.

_**Summary: **__No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun. No more can she curse for the things she has done. Reaching for what she once had, she leaves destruction, suffering and bodies in her wake. She is the _Ripper_**. **__Is salvation a possibility for her, who will be the one to offer it to her? Prince charming on his white horse or the dark knight who will kill for her. _

_**Author's Note: **__Here we go another plot idea surfaced from the depths of my mind, I promise to reveal many things along the way. I can't promise that everything will be clear at first but through each individual or every few chapter things will gradually reveal themselves. _

_This is an idea I'm playing with and I hope you all enjoy reading it._

_**Also please thank: Torn Two Ways for being my beta for this story, because of her this chapter can really be great.**_

_**Note: **__This is chapter is best read with: _**The Future Starts Slow by The Kills. **

* * *

The afternoon air was warm and sweet, tinged with the floral scent of lavender, lilac, and the earth.

Everywhere the blades of grass touched, bare flesh tickled, but sent a sense of calm.

She laid spread out on the green expanse, limbs lazily flung out as her pores soaked in every inch of sunlight that reached her skin. The rays of light sent rushes of warmth that were absorbed into her skin and sunk into her bones, relaxing her muscles.

Her body felt like it was melting into the earth and climate in the most pleasurable way if that was even possible. With closed eyes, she arched her back with a pleasant crack and shift of her bones.

Birds sang sweetly from the trees nearby, the cricket's chirped making music to communicate with each other scattered about in the grass.

She felt this connection with nature, which soothed her and made her forget almost everything.

All that was important was the now.

But from deep within her, she felt an unease stirring, a foreboding or premonition.

Even in the most peaceful of moments, there was always the storm brewing on the edge of the horizon, waiting to awake her to reality.

She had run, and she had tried to hide.

But, try as she may, neither were good enough and both proved fruitless.

Her constant struggles were wearing her down bit by bit, and she didn't know when it would all be enough.

Even with the most polished and cool facades, even if she could fool everyone else – the real person she wished to fool was herself.

How desperately she wanted this, she couldn't express entirely in words, because at least if she fooled herself, just maybe she could assuage some of her suffering and sins.

In some moments, she thought maybe, maybe she suffered because of past wrong doings. This was the price of eternity, of her actions, somehow.

Because nothing ever really came free, there were always hardships, lessons, and prices; she had learned that in her past life.

Humanity was something she could say even she had taken advantage of.

Now…humanity could be a dangerous weakness.

So, in these moments that were often a rarity, she let herself be a glutton - enjoying all that nature was providing her with at the moment.

She lost herself in the picturesque scene and feel of the nature surrounding her until she felt as if she herself had joined it in all its beauty.

Countless tears she had cried and often she ended up crying without tears but just the sting of her eyes and the emotional aches and pains that manifested into physical aches and pains in her chest.

Ones that made it hard to breathe and move. Ones that caused her to just lay still, crumpled like a sheet of paper, until she berated herself for the weakness and dragged herself to her feet.

Sometimes, there were days when she just had enough and thought of doing what she'd seen happen to many people; she had enough strength to break her own neck.

Just a quick twist and then nothing, no suffering.

It was simple, and because it was so simple she didn't do it.

Something pushed her along the rough waves and kept her on her feet even when she was alone.

It came from deep inside her.

She was the girl that had prided herself in putting _herself_ on the line for other's safety, not letting or even just despising the very thought of someone she loved sacrificing themselves for her, risking it all and putting themselves on the line for her.

She prided herself on her strength and independence; she tried to make herself look strong in front of others.

It was that spark and fire, the burning flame that she inherited down the line from the women in her family – you could say down to the very woman she despised but couldn't help respect and be grateful for that fire and stubbornness.

It was her _**spunk**_.

She'd hold on in hopes for a new dawn, for a new day.

In hopes someday she'd be in control of the monster holding reign inside of her.

Even if she feared it was turning her into someone unrecognizable.

She'd numb herself and be strong.

She'd flick the switch and wait it out.

Even as a little voice told her the demon in her was getting more bloodthirsty and strong.

The monster rattling in its cage to be let free, even in moments of silence like this.

She ignored the killer for this moment, to enjoy herself before she left a wake of destruction and bodies behind her.

She knew, soon the force of a change was heading her way, whether she liked it or not.

_This _was a luxury she didn't, experience regularly after all, and because of this she wouldn't give it up until she was ready.

So, for now, Elena let herself and nature just _be_.

Elena drifted into sweet unconsciousness.

No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun.

* * *

_**Authors**_** Note:**_ Again, I want to thank _**Torn Two Ways** for betaing for me!

_I also want thank those who've read this and I hope you enjoyed it! _

_I only ask for you to review so that I know your opinions on this chapter so, if you don't mind...please do!_


	2. Chapter 2: Siren Song

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries which includes both the book and T.V. series. Only L.J. smith owns the character's and anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries series. I merely am writing a fanfiction plot I came up with and **_any made up character's that aren't affiliated with Vampire Diaries I do own_. _**(L.J. Smith owns this series still even if she has been fired and a ghost writer has taken over after Midnight, she spent so long on it that in my books she will forever be the owner of everything Vampire Diaries – even if she isn't on the books.)**

_**Summary: **__No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun. No more can she curse for the things she has done. Reaching for what she once had, she leaves destruction, suffering and bodies in her wake. She is the _Ripper_**. **__Is salvation a possibility for her, who will be the one to offer it to her? Prince charming on his white horse or the dark knight who will kill for her. _

_**Author's Note: **__Thanks, for reading guys! _

_**This is best listened to with (in this order): Siren Song – By: Bat For Lashes then Tighten Up - By: The Black Keys.**_

* * *

The water was warm in contrast to the cool touch of black porcelain claw foot tub touching her flesh.

Surrounding her form were foamy bubbles with the scent of cinnamon, ginger, and raspberry wafting pleasantly to her nose.

With closed eyes, she leaned back against the surface of the tub and comfortably tilted her head back enjoying the warm water soaking into her muscles and bones for just a moment.

She was enjoying a simple bubble bath, or so it seemed – oh how she wished that she could pretend for a moment she was just doing that.

What Elena really was doing was washing away the proof of her evil deeds. She reached over for her red sponge and poured rose and lavender scented soap onto the material while the bubbles dissipated into the water uncovering her tainted body.

What lay in the water made her stomach slightly turn and conjure up memories of the past few hours. The Red tinged water gently sloshing around her was making her feel more dirty than clean.

Elena almost shivered in horror at the sight of herself.

Her fingernails had dried, caked blood underneath them, her, shoulders and neck dotted with sticky, crimson while her, hands and legs were also still stained with it, the red soaked through her clothing. Elena could still tasted blood, on her teeth and lips.

Quite a sight she was.

Too bad it wasn't _her_ blood that was smeared all over her; oh, how she _wished _this was her blood.

She'd lost control again tonight in the siren call of her thirst and killed _again_.

Sighing, she began scrubbing, gently at first, before her ministrations became desperate with each passing moment and memory of her act this night. She scrubbed until her skin felt raw and took on a pinky tone, until all visible signs of her kills were gone. The only give away was the water around her, which she immediately drained and replaced with more warm water to gain a sense of normalcy – an anchor to keep her sane.

The bubbles returned, and she sunk lower into the water gazing at the black and silver decorated porcelain wall.

Every night was practically like this. Sometimes around the same time she lost control. The way her thirst influenced her was unpredictable. The thirst was so _raw_ and _powerful_, it was so very hard to ignore. Her gums would ache sweetly, her fangs begging to be freed, and her throat burned and ached like she was stuck in the desert without a single drop of water. Sometimes her head would ache slightly, and she just got so irritable and restless.

And every single time when she vowed to herself to do it gently this time – to not kill…she went and slaughtered a poor innocent. It was just so hard to stop as soon as the sweet, rich, warm taste of the body's life source flowed smoothly into her mouth. It was like the first hit of a first class drug, she was chasing that sweet euphoria over and over again at the risk of someone's life.

Elena _hated_ doing this over and over again. She, who was above letting innocents, be in harm's way for her and now she was offing innocents herself, how_ ironic_.

It was that damned siren call of life blood turning her evil and making her harbor all this wickedness and sin.

That's why she had run away, far away from her birthplace – the only home she'd know amidst all the chaos. She knew it was wrong and people would definitely be frantically worried at her abrupt disappearance – no doubt blaming Klaus or Rebecca for it. Elena worried for all those she held dear, wondering what was going on over there but, she couldn't go back yet. She needed to control her problem _alone_.

Everyone already had enough to deal with as it is…no one needed to deal with her new vampire state of being.

This way she could in some way protect those close to her. She knew if they had to worry about her new born vampire craziness that it'd distract them, leave them vulnerable. They didn't need to have more stuff to deal with – she was sure that her being a vampire would cause this. _Elena _would be a liability to them all this time.

Heck, _her whole existence_ was a liability to everyone.

She knew it wouldn't make up for her sudden skip out of town but, she had left them at least with a brief note, if it was any consolation.

Elena had to admit though that there were a few people in particular that made her heart ache in regret when she thought of her decision.

Stefan – possibly useless, unless he was off the bender again and…

She bit her lip as her heart pounded in response to a mere name entering her mind.

_Damon_.

Elena wasn't sure what exactly he would feel, everything with him was just so _confusing_!

She wasn't sure what she felt around him.

One minute she wanted to bolt away from him, the next she was burning with the urge to run to him and have him wrap his arms around her, encasing her with his personal warmth.

Ever since that night when he had mistook her words as accusing his feelings for being a liability, making him the weak link…he had been acting cold to her and distant.

She honestly hadn't meant it like that…but she should have chosen her words more carefully in that heat of the moment. Elena had just been so tired of the two babying her and her mind was crazy with all the crap happening lately.

She admitted she felt stupid sometimes when she thought about what she had done, but it was necessary and safer this way.

This way, the only one who should get hurt was her - Elena would choose that to be the outcome any day over people close to her.

Elena ached though, when she thought of all those she had left behind, especially whenever Damon came to mind. How was he dealing with this, she knew he'd probably get drunk, hook up with some random girl, feed and or kill, severely hurt someone to cope.

She rested her arm against the edge of the tub, while her wrist rested over her eyes.

Biting her lip and sighing, she ran her hands through her hair tiredly before she got up, drying off and slipping into a cotton, navy blue camisole and cotton, black, pajama pants. As soon as her head hit the pillow – she drifted off into sleep, worlds away from her suffering.

Xxx

Meanwhile, Damon was sitting in one of the parlor chairs with an array of his favorite alcoholic drinks, littering the table as he sat there staring off in space, his gaze directed at the fire crackling and glowing in the fireplace. He wasn't looking at anything though, in particular – no thoughts, no anything.

Even as his brother strode through the front door and into the den – he didn't move, save for pouring another glass of bourbon or scotch on the rocks, sometimes mixing in the contents of the blood bags, occupying the table as well.

Music blared from somewhere in the den when Stefan shucked off his leather jacket and placed it neatly against the couch, pouring himself a drink. He felt slight irritation when he felt his brother's gaze trained onto him – he'd rather his brother speak all broody and such than just stare at him like that in silence.

His brother had been so unpredictable – some days he could guess what was running through Stefan's mind, what he was going to say or do…but today was one of those days where he had no damn clue what his brother wanted or what he was thinking.

And, honestly, he didn't feel like playing any guessing games – he was in a foul mood enough as it is.

Klaus had been riding them for the damn white oak stake, the last one that 'Mr. Hyde' hid god knows where. On top of that Barbie original was acting strange and it had him on edge and 'supposedly', Esther bit the bullet, all too suddenly for Damon's liking. His gut wasn't on terms with her death, something was just off with the Originals – then again, _when_ wasn't something off with that family.

Sighing gently to himself, Damon knocked back a quarter of the contents in his tumbler, pausing midway when Stefan cleared his throat.

Reluctantly, Damon slightly turned his body so as to not directly face Stefan but, to indicate he was waiting and all ears. "Damon, I think I've come up with an idea to find the location of the stake." Instantly, Damon turned around fully facing Stefan now with a single arched brow, questioning.

"Well what is it, 'cause honestly we are desperate here; no idea is stupid Stefan." Stefan narrowed his eyes for a second before leaning back and looking at his brother with crossed arms.

"I talked with Ric and we've come up with an idea…that may not be so appealing but has at least a chance however…" Stefan paused looking away.

"However…" Damon drawled out, face, contorted into annoyance and impatience.

Stefan had a serious look on his face. "We're going to have to imprison Ric and if it comes down to it – torture him or put him in a situation where he's forced into a very life threatening situation."

Damon's expression transitioned into a thoughtful one before speaking. "I take that back…stupid idea, Stefan! What about his ring?" he mockingly cooed.

"We'd take it off," Stefan said, without so much as blinking.

_Which means if we do resort to a life or death attack, then…Ric could die, which means we either turn him or we let him die. _

Damon agreed they had to at least have some suffering to bring the psycho bastard out of his hiding corner, but a _life_ or _death_ situation?

Alaric had become a friend to him, however…it had to be done.

"Alaric agreed to it Damon, he honestly did. I don't see any issues with it – I don't want to have to resort to Plan B but I will if I have to. I have a feeling we will have to, Damon. You know what will happen if Klaus doesn't get it."

Damon groaned and got up placing his glass down roughly. "I know Stefan, okay – let's not go through this again; bad things, dot, dot, dot."

After another minute of silence Stefan spoke again sloshing his scotch around in the crystal glass. "I also think I've found another solution to our troubles…"

"That would be?"

"Our quest to figuring out which Original line we belong to." Stefan began tapping his right foot absently as he looked into the fire.

"Oh, yea so what is it – we gotta go into the forest and search for the infamous Big Foot? We go faerie hunting, maybe pixies instead?" Sarcasm was thick in Damon's voice while he threw a disdainful gaze his brother's way, whose lips twitched, before smoothing out on his face again.

"Ha, Ha very funny – that's really going to help us Damon." Clearly, he was getting under his little brother's skin again – he hadn't done so in months and it felt so normal.

He rolled his eyes and poured himself another glass, returning to his seat. "Lighten up, little brother."

Stefan's jaw clenched. "There's no time for that, shut up and listen – we don't need your 'Damon humor' right now."

_Damon humor?_

Damon waved the comment away with confusion. "Fine, fine – out with it."

"We need to speak with Rose; she was one of the first in our bloodline." Damon's face fell, and his stomach twisted at the mention of her name.

"Yea and how are we supposed to do that, Stefan…hmmm? Don't you remember – she's dead, dust in the wind." He was covering up his pangs of hurt with more sarcasm.

His younger brother shrugged, drinking before speaking. "We get Jeremy to be a mediator between you two."

"He's in _Denver_, Stefan…what are we just going to up and leave?" he spat.

"No, you're going – I'm staying to get the info I need from Ric." He said simply as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

It was, but for Damon, not so much.

"_No_." he growled, causing for something to flicker through Stefan's eyes before vanishing.

"Dam-"

Damon shook his head and spoke louder with intensity. "Not all by yourself, you need someone to help you with that, we have no idea the kind of tricks or mind games 'Mr. Hyde' has got up his sleeve – not to mention if you haven't noticed 'Dr. Jekyll' is a _vampire _hunter…so naturally the two have the same abilities, right?"

"Aw, Damon are you saying that you care about my well being, brother?" Stefan flashed him his usual customary smirk.

Damon gave his brother, a pointed stare. "Shut up, Stefan – don't get all sentimental on me right now. I'm saying that we need all the strength we can get, especially the _supernatural_ kind. I mean, we could get Vampire Barbie but _really?" _He paused for a drink then continued.

"Caroline...is Caroline...she'd get all soft when things came to the nitty gritty stuff. Especially because it's someone close to her. I know you can do this, but I need you to have a backup just in case. We can't lose _any_ numbers."

"Damon, we _already_ are missing people, or are you just pretending now?" His brother got up and swiped one of the blood bags from the table beside his older brother, his back facing Damon.

The older Salvatore fixed a glare onto the younger brother; half because he just stole _his_ blood bag and the other half because he brought '_it'_ up. Damon really didn't want to talk about it, he was already pissed enough – so much he wanted to rip someone in pieces. "_Don't_ Stefan…not now."

But Stefan, like the good brother he was, didn't give up and kept on pushing Damon's buttons. "You know I'm surprised you haven't even tried to go find her. Aren't you worried that Klaus is holding her somewhere? I'd thought you'd tear apart the town for her." He knew, Stefan was baiting him, but he couldn't help it; the topic was sensitive.

Damon's voice rose in anger. "You don't think I still want to, that I didn't try? The trail went cold, Stefan, and if Klaus had her, he'd more than likely to split town and be off merrily creating his damn hybrids." Damon wore an angry expression as his gaze fixed onto a speck of dust laying at his feet, rather than Stefan, the dying glow of fire illuminating the floor.

"Aren't you worried that she's dead in a ditch somewhere?" Stefan sipped at his opened blood bag, staring at Damon with a blank expression, but he was sure he could see worry flit across the green, oak depths.

His grip on the glass tightened to the point where the force made the glass begin to crack, audibly.

Now he was sure his brother was trying to illicit a reaction out of Damon.

"_Don't_ even Stefan; don't even say that – I can't deal with that now." After that, there was silence, excluding the drinking sounds.

Sighing tiredly, Damon lay against the couch and closed his eyes. "Just tell me what information you have on this Vampire line situation."

"Like I said, Jeremy is the solution to the problem – we'd ask Bonnie but she's not exactly ready to be up to bat." Stefan sat on the armrest turned towards his brother, pausing every so often to take another sip of his 'meal'.

"How is the kid, supposed to help us? He's not supposed to be involved Stefan, I'd be staked by…never mind," He sighed harshly.

Shaking his head, he skipped that part. "What is Jeremy going to do anyways, Stefan?"

"Well, he has the ability to speak with the dead – so, we just get him to speak to Rose…she tells us who turned her and then we look for this person who turned her and get the information from her." Stefan shrugged his shoulders as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

This made Damon snort. "You make it sound so simple, Stefan."

"While you go off ghost hunting – I'll extract the information from R-"

"With Caroline," Damon sing songed.

"With Caroline as backup…happy?" Stefan grumbled as he picked up his leather jacket and slung it on, now with an empty blood bag, hanging from his lips.

"Much…hey! Where are _you_ going!" He raised a brow questioningly

Stefan threw out the blood bag, walking away from the den as he answered. "Out, need to talk to our multiple personality friend."

"Have fun; make sure he doesn't go all Hulk on you." Damon called out and then chuckled when the door slammed with no comeback response.

Damon listened as his brother started the car, the engine purring before growing quieter in the distance.

Instantly, Damon shot up, quickly gulping down the rest of his drink before resting it on the table and blurring up into his room for his phone, keys and leather jacket which he immediately slung on and rushed out the door – not bothering to lock it. The human who would break into the house would have to have a death wish.

As Damon got into his car, he glanced around and then headed off.

He had a plan, whether it was smart was questionable but as soon as his brother had mentioned it – he got an idea.

So off he went, down the black, white and yellow asphalt road, off to the vampire hating witch's house.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **More to come, just keep reading!_

_ Also thanks to Torn Two Ways for betaing this chapter and more to come.  
_


	3. Chapter 3: Spotted you in the crowd

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries which includes both the book and T.V. series. Only L.J. smith owns the character's and anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries series. I merely am writing a fanfiction plot I came up with and **_any made up character's that aren't affiliated with Vampire Diaries I do own_._**(L.J. Smith owns this series still even if she has been fired and a ghost writer has taken over after Midnight, she spent so long on it that in my books she will forever be the owner of everything Vampire Diaries – even if she isn't on the books.)**

_**Summary: **__No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun. No more can she curse for the things she has done. Reaching for what she once had, she leaves destruction, suffering and bodies in her wake. She is the _Ripper_**. **__Is salvation a possibility for her, who will be the one to offer it to her? Prince charming on his white horse or the dark knight who will kill for her._

_**Authors note: **_I want to thank tvdlover247 for agreeing to take over the beta spot; Torn Two Ways cannot beta for me any longer at the moment so I'd like to say thanks to her as well!

_**Songs in order (one song per each scene/POV): **__It's your life by Francesca Battistelli, Wolf Like Me by TV On the Radio, Million Ways to be Cruel by Ok Go, Disparate Youth by Santigold, Starting Now by Mississippi Twilight, Save the Lies by Gabriella Cilmi, Pick Up The Phone (Radio edit remix) by Dragonette OR Hello by Dragonette & Martin Solveig._

* * *

Damon hopped up the stone steps and cautiously walked over to the door, stopping a few inches before it.

He quickly peered around, ice blue eyes scanning the suburban area and horizon, as his ears listened for any suspicious sounds.

Once satisfied, he rapped his knuckles against the surface of the door, waiting and listening patiently for the sound of footsteps heading in his direction.

The corners of his lips down turned when he was met with silence, debating whether he should knock again or just get the hell out of here; his foot tapped impatiently as his irritation grew.

Sighing before running his fingers through his hair, he turned on his heels, his eyes catching the light and taking in the sun descending on the horizon.

The sky was alight with color that shone with soft purples and indigoes, flaming reds and oranges, and tinges of yellow blending in-between.

Just as his foot moved to take a step he heard the door swing open and a groan of annoyance from behind him.

Putting on a smirk, he swiveled around and faced the witch with crossed arms and a stern, disapproving expression.

"Well hello Sunshine. Beautiful day, isn't it?" Damon's smirk deepened and it caused her to scowl at him, embers glowing in the depths of her eyes.

"What do you want Damon?" She spat, crossing her arms tighter when a draft blew by.

Rubbing his chin absently as if in thought, he casted his eyes upwards in mock contemplation. "Three wishes isn't it? Well…first I'd like to have a nice, juc-"

"I'm a witch, not a genie." Her face darkened with annoyance.

"You know, all that scowling isn't good for your face Bonnie bird. You'll end up like poor Stefie and develop some serious wrinkles and frown lines." He sing-songed, smiling happily when her first response was a harsh sigh.

"I wouldn't have a reason to frown if you'd get off my damn property and out of Mystic Falls, oh and if you didn't exist – that might just help a bit." This time she smirked at him, arms at her sides displaying confidence.

Damon laughed, she reminded him of those stereotypical elderly folk that shouted at kids to stop trespassing and to get off their properties before hosing them or shouting their ears off some more.

"Tsk, tsk, Bonnie, Bonnie, it's not nice to insult your Elders! Have some respect!" He grinned at her; he could see her blood was boiling.

"Why should I have any respect for_**you**_**,**of all people? You don't deserve it; respect is earned—not some free, cheap gift." The embers in her eyes were now burning bright.

Bonnie ran her fingers through her hair with and tiredly sighed. "If all you did was come to banter then I'm not in the mood Damon, go find someone else." She began to close the door.

Damon held the door in place, the wood and metal creaking in protest. "Look I'm sorry, okay I'm just trying to lighten up the mood. I'm under a lot of stress, so have a heart." He put his hands in his pockets, leaving Bonnie the choice to shut the door in his face.

His face held the strain of the many thoughts flitting around in his head, plans and questions he constantly pondered.

Bonnie decided to hear him out.

If she didn't like what he had to say then, she'd get rid of him.

"I need your help. I _desperately _need a favor." He admitted averting his eyes from her.

"_What_? Seriously, you're asking me for a _favor_?" she spat bitterly and incredulously with a half surprised half angry expression.

"Um, yea…I just said that." He looked at her as if she was stupid or had just had been hit by a flying soccer ball.

"Why, would I help you? You killed my mother…" she crossed her arms, brown eyes blazing with anger even brighter.

"Look, I'm sorry, I know that I can never make up for it but it was for_Elena_," Bonnie let out a snort and her arms encircled her body tighter.

"So what you're saying is…that if it's for Elena, then it's all okay?" Her lips curled.

"She's _your _bestfriend remember?" he reminded her, putting a huge emphasis on bestfriend.

Her voice rose in anger. "As long as Elena is intact and not a single hair on her head has been misplaced, then it's okay if my mom had to become a vampire, that Jenna died, that more people close to me keep getting hurt? Is that what you're saying? Because if that is the case then…"

"_Bonnie_" he growled with warning, blue eyes glinting with danger.

"_No_, Damon, I can't do this, any of this anymore. I deserve normality, especially now with my mom gone. I found my mother and then when things were looking up, and she just had to get turned to save Elena's life. I've given up too much and it's got to end somewhere." Bonnie closed her eyes for a second and took in a shaky breath, concealing a sob that was burning to leave her throat and lips.

Damon scoffed and sneered at her, done with sympathies and now pushed to the point of annoyance. "Do you think you're the only one that has given shit up, the only one that's suffering? And if you haven't noticed, you're not exactly normal either." He sighed trying to control his anger.

"Look Bonnie, you're a _witch_. You're a part of the supernatural world, you're not exactly normal. Honestly, I feel for you, I mean look at me. Do you think I had fun being a vampire in the beginning? That it was _easy? _So don't take offense if I say I think, in some way you're being a tinsy bit selfis-"In that instant, he felt white hot knives stabbing through his skull and into his brain.

It was the worst headache he'd ever had in human or vampire life—hung over or not.

Damon's fingers fisted his hair as he groaned in agony, panting every so often in between. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to block out the pain; it didn't work because it felt like the knives were drilling his brain.

His knees buckled and he fell to his knees, resting against the stone concrete of the porch.

"S-stop!" he spat out shakily.

Damon gritted his teeth as he tried to rise up, unsuccessful when he felt the pain slam into his mind with more intensity.

"Listen to me: Elena is missing!" he panted out the words loudly and breathily instead, hoping it would get her to cease fire.

Over the ringing in his ears, he heard Bonnie's response as if he was trapped underwater and her voice was filtering through liquid to him. "I'm not sure I believe you and I'm sure you'd understand why."

"I'm not lying to you this time. It's true – you can ask anyone!" his forehead was now touching the surface of the cool porch as his fingers tightened further around his head, the pain intensifying before quickly dying out – much to his welcome.

He lay unmoving against the cool ground, annoyed that he was bested by that damn Bennett witch.

Slowly getting up, he shakily pulled out a worn piece of paper and handed it to Bonnie, his body still affected by Bonnie's mental onslaught.

She tore the paper away from his grasp, eyes narrowing as they drank in the words on the scrap of paper. "So what do you want me to do?" her voice filled with worry as her eyes observed him as if she were judging him, giving back the note.

"I just want you to see if she's okay. That's what I want the most." He folded the note in half and stuffed it in the pocket of his leather jacket.

Sighing tiredly, Bonnie rubbed her eyes and leaned against the doorframe with a concentrated expression. "Well, do you happen to have any of her personal belongings with you, at the moment?"

Damon's fingers reached for the chain holding Elena's vervain pendant in place, careful to avoid it touching his flesh.

Bonnie took it from him and lay against her palm, clasping her hands together as if in prayer and closing her eyes.

She breathed deeply in and out before muttering lowly in her throat, her muscles visibly relaxing with each exhale and inhale.

Her eyes squeezed shut tighter after a minute as her brow furrowed deeper and her mouth set into a fine line. He saw her muscles visibly tense up.

"I –I can't feel anything." He saw her swallow nervously.

"What, is your magic blocked?" he smirked now irritated and his impatience growing.

Bonnie shook her head before she clasped her fingers tighter around the pendant and her mutters grew louder.

A breeze picked up and pieces of her hair caught in the air.

Damon's eyes traveled to the sky, but all he saw the sunset.

At the sound of a gasp, his head swiveled towards her.

"Bonnie, what's going on?" he asked genuinely worried.

Her eyes opened and in them the depths reflected panic, shock and fear, she fumbled to return the necklace in his hands and thereafter wrapped her arms around her frame as shakes racked her body.

Her words left her lips in a stutter. "I-I c-can't feel her."

"What the hell do you mean, you can't feel her? Are you sure that your powers aren't blocked." his mouth downturned into a deep frown.

She shook her head furiously before another shiver went through her body. "_No_, I felt my power but I couldn't feel _Elena_. It's like she isn't there or _anywhere_."

He clenched his fists and spoke through gritted teeth. "What the hell does that mean? where would she even go?"

Bonnie's eyes lit up with blazing fire and her lips curled at Damon. "How in the hell am I supposed to know Damon, it's like I told you – I can't feel her presence or energy."

"Well, fine! What about a locator spell?" he threw up his hands, as if she should have given him that option.

"Sure, but all I need is the blood of the next of kin?" she said with thick sarcasm in her voice.

"Okay, why don't you just give me a minute to get Jeremy from the car? Oh wait…he's in _Denver_." Damon was sick of waiting, but inside he was panicking.

Bonnie snorted. "You asked for my help. I did the best I could with the spell." Bonnie began to close the door and he caught it, pushing it back slightly and now face to face with a glaring Bonnie.

Bonnie narrowed her eyes in concentration as she tried to push it, futilely, closed.

And then, something happened that he wasn't ready for.

The return of the white hot knives stabbing his brain returned and he stumbled off the steps, tripping over his own feet and landing on his backside.

He clutched his head as he looked at Bonnie through squinted eyes and gritted teeth.

"If Elena's dead, it's all on _you _two—but especially you, _Damon._" Bonnie spat.

She slammed the door closed, the sound of locks slipping into place vibrating into the air and off the glass windows while the pain in his head died off.

He grunted as he got up and dusted himself off, walking to his car.

Only when he got into the car did he rest his head against the steering wheel, his eyes shut off in an attempt to block out anything else but his inner thoughts.

_Elena can't be dead,_

His throat tightened painfully at the thought as anger welled up inside of him.

He felt a deep pang of loss and sadness stirring his stomach.

Damon didn't think he could take it if Elena were gone. He needed her alive. If she died there was no pointing in anything anymore.

As cliché as it sounded, she was his sun.

She was the one who made him feel things he didn't think he would feel again after Katherine.

Elena drew out his humanity to a painfully wonderful intensity.

Sighing, he lifted his head and eyes which were met with the sight of the fading sunset and the gradually approaching night. The soft hues of black, blue, purple, and midnight blue were crawling along the expanse of the sky.

He leaned back, taking in the sight of the waning light.

Damon's head lolled to the side and his bloodlust began to rise.

He'd rather get drunk and numb himself than wallow and brood like his brother.

There were really only two places he wanted to get a drink at, and both had their pros and cons.

He could go to the boarding house and take a chance on seeing his brother and drinking from a microwaved blood bag, humoring himself for the night or passing out.

Or, he could go to the grill, get drunk, possibly find some girl and get his fill from a warm, living, blood source. He might even see his crazy, multiple personality, vampire hunter friend and get a laugh at his expense.

It only took him a second to decide his next destination as he got the hell out of Witch street.

**Xxx**

Cold air bit into her exposed flesh as she walked down the street in only a KRMA jacket, charcoal acid wash jeans, a black one shoulder top and knee high black boots that clicked against the pavement.

The cold didn't bother her as much as it use to, but she kept up human appearances.

Along the streets, she passed stores that threw out dimmed lighting from the outside and inside.

Eventually pubs and nightclubs replaced the little stores as raucous laughter, screams, and loud music spilled from the buildings.

She ignored it all, not interested in anything but in the task of her 'midnight stroll' – if you wanted to call it that.

From behind her, her ears picked up slurred murmurs and sloppy footsteps.

Normally, any normal girl would be on high alert and panic mode in this situation. Their heart would race and thud against their ribcage violently in sweat inducing fear.

Adrenaline would rush into their bloodstream, tensing the muscles in lieu of the choice to flee or fight. Even their mind would be screaming at them and going haywire.

Elena's body had no intention of reacting in that manner, especially because she was no longer a_normal _girl.

The beast inside her would purr in excitement because it knew that although her follower thought he had the upper hand – she was the one in control of every movement and breath.

Elena was the _hunter_; she was no longer the _hunted_.

As soon as she heard two drunken voices calling her and trying to get her attention, she shrunk into her jacket as if she was suddenly afraid.

Her plan was to deceive the men into believing she was feeble and helpless.

It was even better that they were drunk out of their minds.

The scent of booze permeated into the air mixing with the scent of warming blood.

Elena slinked down the sidewalk and into a dark and deserted alleyway with a dead end.

She climbed on top of the closed dumpster and slid into the apartment fire escape stairway, waiting for her prey.

Her eyes had adjusted quickly to the dark, sharpening her vision.

Elena could hear their footsteps coming closer and her body flushed in response, gums aching in protest and throat burning in sweet agony in a plea for a drink of warm lifeblood.

Her muscles tensed as she heard the sound of footsteps scraping black asphalt at the entrance of the alleyway, causing her excited breaths to cease.

Her body began to pulsate with excitement at the thought of having a single drop of that delicious liquid land on her tongue and drip down her throat.

The two men walked further into her trap which was her cue to descend upon them.

She landed behind them, cutting off their means of escape as she smiled a sugary sweet, coy smile at them.

Elena shook the mass of curls off to one shoulder, covering part of her face mysteriously as a result.

As she slithered towards them, she gazed upon them through the thick of her lashes and her lips parted.

Her plan was to dazzle then feed, or rather that was the 'beast's' plan for tonight.

She had already lost control awhile ago from a previous feed in the afternoon under a bridge, on a man who had been following a girl in her young teens with fevering interest in every move and twitch she made.

Elena's fingers reached out and brushed against the man's cheek, the smell of nicotine and tobacco emitting from him and drifting to her nose.

The sound of a thump made her eyes avert to this victim's comrade who had fallen and was now regarding her with wide eyes, filled with knowledge and horror.

In response, she smiled a teeth showing grin at him, which made him back up further.

He winced suddenly and held up his split palm, in the middle a deep cut was spilling blood from its opening.

Unconsciously, she licked her lips in anticipation.

Elena stepped away from the man in front of her and compelled him to stay silent and unmoving from his spot.

The man on the ground tried to stand up and call for help, but before he could her hand slapped over his mouth, his cries muffled by her flesh.

He only shut up when she compelled him not to scream or cry for help and to stay put.

His muscles were still tensed, even though he couldn't make a run for it.

He narrowed his eyes and she decided to remove her hand from his mouth.

Air gushed loudly from his lips and he looked on her with fear and swallowed sharply. "Who are you? What do you want?" his voice was sharp and panicky.

Elena began to circle him, ignoring his friend who had no choice but see everything unfold. "It doesn't matter who I am—all that matters is that I want you…well not _you_, but what's _inside _you."

Confusion clouded his fearful expression. "Don't worry about it." She said simply shrugging.

She knew she was channeling Katherine but she couldn't stop it now with her loss of control.

The scent of blood was clouding her scent, causing her to pin the bleeding man into the wall, her lips latching onto the cut. Her tongue swiped across the surface of the cut for a few seconds before she felt the shift in her body rising to the surface.

As soon as she heard the terrified, shaky gasp pass his lips she knew that her hungry nature was on display.

She ran her tongue along the surface of her fangs, taking in the loud rush of blood flowing through his body as his heart beat at a quicker pace.

Before he knew it, she had him in her grip by his shoulders.

Her fangs sliced through his skin like butter and out melted the thing she'd been longing and thirsting for all night.

At the first taste, she had been lost – now at the second she knew as hard as she tried that she wouldn't be able too.

A quiet whimper left his lips but it was too late, she was gulping mouthfuls down.

Her eyes closed in sweet ecstasy as her jaw continued to ache and her fangs tore deeper into the flesh trying to extract as much as she could from the body, her victim groaning in huge amounts of pain and dizziness from loss of blood.

Blood gushed out of the deep tear now and she heard the squish of flesh and growled appreciatively as more leaked into her throat.

Here came the point where she would mentally try to stop but her body didn't cooperate in time to stop befor-

_Snap!_

The head snapped off of the neck, falling with a thud to the ground and she stared at it blankly as she licked her lips clean, blood dripping off her chin and onto her shirt as her features returned to its human ones.

Taking a deep breath she caught the scent of blood from the body that was still much alive, now shaking and curled into itself on the ground.

She caught the last survivor clutching his head, with wide, unfocused, eyes, tears streaming down his face and twitching muscles.

Elena didn't even think with this one, she just ripped him apart like his friend.

She patted the headless bodies, unflinching as she searched for the lighter she knew they would have and the flask of alcohol she'd smelled earlier.

When she found them, she made quick work of making the fire necessary to get rid of her bloody, evil act. She laid the heads on top of the severed area and set them alight after dousing them each with whatever alcohol was in the silver flask.

Elena didn't even blink as she pocketed both the flask and lighter, walking away from the burning bodies.

_**Xxx**_

Damon sat slightly hunched over, nursing a double scotch and gazing into the liquid contents aimlessly when he heard someone take the seat beside him silently.

"You look cheerful today." A familiar voice spoke sarcastically, interrupting his quiet time.

"Well if it isn't Dr. Jekyll! How's it going, teach?" he turned to the slayer with his usual smirk.

"Dr. Jekyll? Nice to know you've got my nickname down and it's taken from a classic literary tale about a doctor who battles with his psychotic dark side – how _ironic_." Alaric chuckled and smiled at his friend's antics.

Damon shrugged, his smirk growing. "Only the best for my bud!" he playful punched Ric's arm.

"Wow. Thanks Damon; that means so much." He smirked at the older Salvatore before quickly ordering a double scotch for himself, rubbing his arm absently.

"What can I say, I'm a classy guy." He swirled his drink around as Alaric got his.

"Well, because you've awarded me with a nickname – I suppose, I should give you one."

Damon raised a brow, his body turning towards Ric in waiting. "How about Demon?"

Damon snorted as Alaric rubbed his chin as if in deep thought, humming to himself. "Or even, Satan spawn? Nah, for someone like you…we need something more edgy and _you._"

Damon rolled his eyes as Alaric's face took on a thoughtful expression. "You're flipping hilarious, Ric…you really are. Maybe if you ever give up the teaching gig, you could become a grade A standup comedian. "

"Well, I knew I was funny before, but hearing it from the Great Damon Salvatore…well – that confirms things."

"Don't get smart with me! I'm older than you, better show some respect, boy." Damon smiled into his drink.

"Sorry, _grandpa_." Damon was mid drink when Alaric said this, so naturally Damon started coughing for a second before he collected himself and cleared his throat.

"Who are you calling grandpa? Do I look old to you?" Damon gestured to himself with a tone clipped.

Alaric put up his hands in surrender. "You may not look it but then again, how old are you turning this year?" Alaric whispered the last bit with a goofy grin on his face.

Damon raised a single brow and whispered back, pretending to cover their conversation by putting a hand to the side of the lips. "None of your business. And besides, isn't that a little rude to ask?"

"Only if you're a girl. I'm actually dead curious, Damon."

He sighed and had another drink before answering his friend's burning question. He knew

Ric wouldn't leave it alone—Alaric would most likely come back to it later.

"I'll be 172 – but really, who's counting?" Damon snickered with a proud look as he said it out loud.

"Man, you're old, I feel like a teenager in comparison to _you_." Damon shrugged.

The vampire slayer didn't stop though. "So, do you get like senior discounts and etcetera?" Ric laughed for a few minutes until he suddenly fell of his bar stool and landed on his backside.

"Again, Ric you're flipping hilarious." He grumbled to himself.

Dusting himself off Ric hopped up onto the bar stool and turned to Damon with a sudden serious expression on his face. "So has Stefan talked to you about the 'plan'?"

He nodded, setting down his drink and focusing on the man before him. "Yup, and I'm not spilling or anything. We can't afford for your evil, alter ego to have a heads up."

Alaric nodded. "Okay, okay I get it."

"Don't worry man, you're in safe hands." Damon clapped a hand on Ric's back, looking at him with a genuine smile.

Alaric jolted slightly and there was a light in his eyes as the nickname came to mind suddenly, causing Damon to stop mid- drink and wait for what his friend was about to say. "How about Dick?" he smirked at his friend who smirked back at him.

"Would that be a reference to how deliciously long m-" Alaric rolled his eyes which made Damon cut off and start laughing at his expression.

"No! Cause you're a dick, you said so yourself many times." Alaric pointed out before taking another sip.

"I'm not lying, I am a dick and proud of both my dick personality and my d-"

"Yea! Okay, we get it Damon." Alaric waved him off while Damon was left grinning mischievously.

Just as he turned back to his drink, from his peripheral vision he spotted something.

Turning around he heard a girlish giggle which belonged to a slim but shapely girl with red auburn hair reaching her collarbone and tortoiseshell eyes.

He turned around and decided to listen in.

"_Wow, do you see that guy over there at the bar?"_

"_Which one?"_

"_Next to that other hot guy; the dark haired guy with those yummy, intense, blue eyes and a delicious body. He's to __**die **__for, and is pretty much sex on legs!" she giggled._

When Damon swiveled around a cocky smirk playing on his lips he caught the friends eyes and tilted his head as if indicating he had heard every word…but she didn't know that he actually had.

The auburn haired girl turned her face away from her friend's and her eyes locked onto his with an awestruck expression, mouth slightly parted and eyes glazed.

He waved to her doing that flirty eye thing of his before getting up, finishing his drink and turning to Alaric. "Looks like it's time for me to leave, can't keep a lady waiting."

Immediately Ric turned around and caught sight of the girl Damon was subtly gesturing towards.

The vampire slayer laughed. "Yea sure, have fun." He waved him away.

Patting his friend on the back Damon whispered so only Alaric could hear. "Oh, I will—and I'll make sure to do things you wouldn't do."

He walked away after slapping his money down on the table for his drink and winking at the auburn haired girl in particular which earned him a very, satisfying, pink flush.

_**Xxx**_

Humming the music playing from the store's sound system to herself she went through the rack filled with summer dresses, picking out a few that she glanced over appreciatively while listening to her friend.

"You know Damon came by and requested me to search for Elena today?" Caroline stopped looking and locked eyes with Bonnie's green ones.

"Why?" Caroline asked as she returned to her search and held out a pretty yellow one with some floral prints before hanging it over her arm with three others.

"Elena's been missing apparently, I just heard about it awhile ago." Bonnie shrugged and began to look through the rack herself.

She instantly felt guilty, because she had known for awhile—as in a few weeks...or months.

Biting her lip, Caroline swallowed sharply, her breath catching in her throat when Bonnie turned to her with soul searching, judging eyes. "Did you know about this? Is it true?"

She sighed and donned an apologetic expression in a plea for any forgiveness she should be asking for. "I've known for a while now." She said meekly but again, apologetically.

Bonnie sighed and scanned Caroline's eyes for a second before turning away and going through the next racks littered with swimsuits.

"How come no one told me?" she asked worriedly, going through the bathing suits slowly.

"We didn't want you to over-exert yourself; you've been through a lot lately. Your mom just turned and left. I didn't want you to have to have another thing to worry about; we already have to keep our eyes open for trouble enough it as it is." Caroline spoke sincerely and then sighed, going through suits a second time, disappointed before she spotted a green bamboo colored bikini and picked it out.

"I appreciate that Caroline, I do, but I just wish I knew – I read the note you know, the one she left." Bonnie gazed sadly at the floor for a second before turning to Caroline with slight anger glowing in her eyes.

"Why did she have to leave? She knows how rough of a time it is to lose people!" Bonnie hissed quietly enough for just the two of them to hear and then rubbed at her eyes that had begun watering which made Caroline wrap Bonnie in a hug, closing her eyes for just, a second.

"Maybe, something happened…that she needed to deal with on her own without the constant death sentence looming over her head. Maybe she needed a clear head to get a new perspective. I don't know, but whatever it is – if she had to leave like this, then she must've needed it—and all we can do is wait for her to return or give her a little time before we go searching for her. Elena will come back, I know it." She squeezed her friend slightly, drawing back and wiping a few frustrated tears from her eyes.

Bonnie smiled slightly with sadness and worry still clouding her tone. "I just hope that wherever she is and whatever she's doing – she's okay. Elena's our best friend and I can't bear to lose her."

"Me neither…" she smiled a cheery smile at Bonnie, hoping to lighten Bonnie's slightly downcast mood.

"So, I was thinking… how about we have a trip of our own?" She grinned at Bonnie hoping mentally she'd had a feeling it'd be a good break or 'timeout' for them both even if it was only a day.

"Where?"

"I was thinking out of town, further away. I've heard of this nice boutique?" she smiled hopefully walking to the accessory section.

"Where out of town?"

"You'll see tomorrow. Say you'll go?"

Bonnie sighed and smiled at Caroline. "Fine, I'll go."

Caroline pulled her in, squealing happily, for another hug, grinning from ear to ear. "I'm so glad; I promise we'll have so much fun!"

_**Xxx**_

"Salt Lake City…really?" Bonnie turned to Caroline, who was gazing through the window and at the blue sky, in her airplane seat.

She looked away from the window and smiled excitedly to Bonnie. "Why not?"

Bonnie shrugged and leaned back relaxing in her seat without protest. "It's just a random choice; I thought we'd go somewhere closer, like Atlanta."

"It's better that we're away from the state, plus it's not like we're going to be here for very long. We're going to fly back to Athens and get my car for the drive back to Mystic Falls. I've got to be back for something anyways." Caroline closed her eyes relaxed.

"For what…?" Bonnie questioned, she was sure if she turned she would see her best friend's brow raised.

"Um, some stuff…I just need to help someone!" Caroline smiled lazily.

It was silent for awhile until Bonnie started up with the questions.

"So who do you have to help?" Bonnie asked curiously.

Sighing Caroline opened her eyes and turned to Bonnie with a serious and honest expression. "Stefan."

"Why? Did something happen?" Bonnie was back to whispering, especially because there were sleeping passengers scattered among the seats on the plane for morning flights.

Caroline this time shrugged. "I'm not sure, but the plan is we're going to try and get info on the white oak stake. I'm supposed to be backup strength just in case. I was actually thinking of asking if you could come by and help me and Stefan." Bonnie rolled her eyes at the mention of helping the Salvatore's.

"I know you'd rather not help him but I think it's a good idea because I mean yes, I am another source of supernatural strength but it'd be nice to know we have a witch in the room as backup for the backup."

Bonnie's face scrunched up for a second but softened when she saw Caroline's pleading, sincere face.

"I'll think about it okay, I just really need a breather. This shopping trip I think will help but I just need a bit more time to recuperate you know?" Caroline nodded and Bonnie relaxed once again and closed her eyes.

_**Xxx**_

Elena sat in front of her vanity table brushing her wet hair before using her blow dryer.

She stared at her reflection as the memories of last night's 'outing' played in her head like a movie.

An internal shiver racked her body as she shut her eyes taking a deep breath in and out to prevent her from breaking down.

Pasting on a smile she walked to her walk in closet filled with clothes she had taken straight from her own closet at home and clothes she had recently bought.

After fifteen minutes she came out with pleated, knee length, one shoulder summer dress with floral prints in blue and sea green scattered along the fabrics expanse; white was mixed in the color scheme.

She put on a beige elbow length, leather jacket and chocolate brown gladiators reaching to just above her ankle.

Plopping down in the vanity table seat she crossed her legs and donned a lapis lazuli necklace that dropped down to her collarbone that she had 'borrowed' from Stefan's room – she assumed it had probably been Katherine's at one point—along with an enchanted lapis lazuli ring.

Her throat had begun aching again for a morning feed, her gums beginning to tingle. She knew what was coming and it made her let out a much needed aggravated sigh.

Constantly, she found herself needing to drink.

She was so _thirsty_. Elena suspected that this was what happened when you were a newborn vampire, but this much?

Elena darted to the kitchen and ripped open the empty fridge save for the few piles of blood bags she had on hand for when she was at home, alcohol and other random things she really didn't need.

Alcohol was the first thing she had gotten, she had heard from Stefan that it helped with the cravings so she decided to stock up.

Grabbing two, she walked over to the cupboard and removed a black mug from its spot and poured blood into the large mug until it filled halfway.

Picking up the other blood bag she stared at it for a few seconds, suddenly wondering what it tasted like cold. She hadn't ever thought about trying it cold in fear she'd hack it up in disgust.

Tearing it open slightly with her teeth she tipped it back until a short stream of blood squirted into her mouth and sat on her taste buds.

Her mouth began to water and she hummed pleasantly at the taste, pouring the rest of the contents into her mug just so it filled a little bit close to the edge.

Cold blood wasn't that bad, it was actually pretty tasty except cold like how tea was yummy warm and iced.

But, she really wanted the warm flush sensation running through her so she put it into the microwave heated it up.

Elena disposed of the bags, staring at how many blood bags it had taken to make the garbage capacity go up halfway the bin.

She was going through them fairly quickly, and it was hard enough stealing them with the bloodlust cravings.

The first time had been the worse; she wasn't sure how to compel and it was really hit and miss thing. However, she was progressing with compulsion and not really sure if she liked that fact either.

The microwave beeped and Elena took out her 'morning meal'

Elena set down her heated mug and switched on the T.V. and flipped through the stations looking for something to watch.

She left it on Much Music where Video On Trial was playing. Bored, she turned her laptop on and went on facebook to see what was going on in her hometown.

She checked to make sure that her chat status was set to offline before doing anything.

Not even four posts down, she saw one post jump out at her.

_Caroline Forbes _with _Bonnie Bennett Shopping_! _GIRLS DAY OUT! Woo hoooo ;D_

The post brought a smile to her face and sadness at the same time, Elena wished she could be there with them – no doubt Caroline had dragged Bonnie out to get her to relax and enjoy life for one moment.

She wondered where they went to shop, knowing Caroline she planned something great.

Caroline had always been the 'planner' in their group. She liked to do the impossible and get things done, that's why she was the head of the Event/Dance committee.

Caroline liked to take charge of things like that; it was her forte so as to speak.

It had been that way for so long within the trio's friendship.

Bonnie was the big sister, the mother hen

And, Elena was the mediator same as Caroline was but she had the most stubborn attitude of them all.

Elena was the voice of reason during a crisis, the logical one.

She was everything in between, which is why she got along with both.

Saying she missed being in the trio dynamic wasn't even cutting it close.

The facebook post just furthered the longing to be with the two she regarded as sisters.

Right now, there was no use in pouting about it – she'd be able to return to them as soon as she got herself in check.

Bringing up the city's visitor information website she scanned through the list of town haunts because she felt if she couldn't be out with her two best friends then at least she could have some girl time with herself without staying inside and worrying about when she would feed off someone else and inevitably end up killing them.

Drinking from her now tempered mug she grabbed a pad of paper she left last night on the table and jotted down some areas.

Elena hadn't done much exploring since she had gotten here from the previous town. She'd been too busy trying to control herself.

When finished with the contents in the mug she checked her email box which was flooded with messages, some texts via e-mail and others e-mails she could guess were from the Mystic Falls crew wondering about her whereabouts and trying to make contact with her.

But she didn't dare open them in fear that they'd sway her from her decision, that it would make this new state of being more difficult for herself.

Rubbing her lips together she muttered under her breath as she cleared away junk mail in her inbox and searched for story alerts.

Elena had recently acquired a few guilty pleasures, and reading fanfictions had become a more recent one. She even read original stories through fictionpress, it helped distract her mind.

Sighing when she found no story alerts, she shutdown her computer and T.V. re-entering her room to apply on a subtle pink, Burt's and Bee's lip balm tint and grabbed her keys, two chilled, emergency, blood bags aviators and cellphone stuffing them in a double tassel grey and red bohemian bag that she slung on, locking the condo door behind her.

It was 12:30 am when she climbed into her rental car – a black 1967 Chevy, Impala. It was old, but in good shape and not that expensive, and for some reason she loved the look of it.

At 1:25 she had snagged a parking space at the mall and she eagerly walked inside ready to look around and do some shopping.

Her eyes drifted over the mall store directory that had a sign that said: _Welcome to Salt Lake City Mall _in medium sized silver letters as she walked right into her first store of the afternoon.

_**Xxx**_

"Look at this one Bonnie! What do you think?" Caroline exited the changing both in a yellow and orange Grecian style summer dress set against a pink background.

"I really like that one better than the blue onesie you tried on earlier." Caroline looked down, her toes wiggling, admiring how it looked on her body.

"I think I agree. The other one made me look weird anyways." She stuck out her tongue playfully before disappearing into the booth, trying on another outfit.

"Bon, go try on your stuff. We can check out each other's outfits at the same time." This made her shrug and she complied with Caroline's request, just going with the flow.

The next time they exited the booth, Caroline wore a long blue, button up blouse and short shorts that weren't disgustingly short, but enough that it was cute on the blonde. Bonnie wore a soft pink shoulder top with chocolate brown vertical stripes and khakis.

Observing Caroline's outfit, Bonnie decided it needed a belt and grabbed one she had spotted and suggested she pair it with the outfit; when she did, Caroline loved it.

They did this with various combinations and articles of clothing and ended up finishing at 3:30; they had gotten there at 2:50. By 3:45 they had paid and were onto the little mini store islands staring at sunglasses and other sun apparel accessories with smoothies in hands.

It didn't take long for the two to start goofing off with different styles of sunglasses, switching them between each other and making ridiculous faces, even taking a few pictures for memories.

Bonnie grabbed a pair of big gold rimmed cat eye sunglasses and tried them on watching Caroline don a green version of the pair she was already wearing. Her stomach began to clench as she watched Caroline, twist around while looking in the mirror to see how she looked in the sunglasses.

Bonnie's body tensed as she felt a shift in the air, like something or someone bad was heading their way.

Looking around she only saw people walking by, talking to each other, exiting and leaving stores, some teenagers fooling around so she decided to ignore the feeling.

Bonnie took off the sunglasses and replaced them with purple aviators; she looked in the mirror and spotted a familiar figure behind her.

Squinting Bonnie tried to get a clear view on the figure which didn't help at all. Taking off the sunglasses she glanced into the mirror again and saw the figure moving off the mirror's surface – her reaction was to turn around and see who or what it was.

What she saw, however, she wasn't prepared for.

A girl with familiar long brown hair cascading down her shoulders began to walk by, the features of the girl, even disrupted from her view by golden brown aviators, made the sunglasses in her hands slip from her fingers and onto the floor; her mouth parted slightly in surprise and the sound of the glasses clattering against the floor reaching her ears but not particularly registering in her mind.

Caroline shook her arm, asking her what she was staring at and what was wrong.

But, Bonnie couldn't form a proper thought aside from one name as her eyes widened.

Bonnie squinted and rubbed at her eyes to make sure it wasn't a mistake, but the face was too familiar and it felt like _her_—except the energy was all off.

_Elena?_

* * *

_**Author's Note: **_More to come next, it's going to start getting real interesting soon. This is just the _**beginning.**_


	4. Chapter 4: Restless

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries which includes both the book and T.V. series. Only L.J. smith owns the character's and anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries series. I merely am writing a fanfiction plot I came up with and **_any made up character's that aren't affiliated with Vampire Diaries I do own_._**(L.J. Smith owns this series still even if she has been fired and a ghost writer has taken over after Midnight, she spent so long on it that in my books she will forever be the owner of everything Vampire Diaries – even if she isn't on the books any longer.)**

_**Summary: **__No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun. No more can she curse for the things she has done. Reaching for what she once had, she leaves destruction, suffering and bodies in her wake. She is the _Ripper_**. **__Is salvation a possibility for her, who will be the one to offer it to her? Prince charming on his white horse or the dark knight who will kill for her._

_**Authors note: **__Enjoy.~_

_**Songs in order (one song per each scene/POV): **__Gold On The Ceiling by The Black Keys, Restless by Unkle, Swimming Home By Evanescence, Consolers Of The Lonely by The Raconteurs, Demons by Sleigh Bells, Strangeness and Charm by Florence + The Machine, Shame & Fortune by Yeah Yeah Yeahs and finally, What I've Overcome by The Fireflight. _

* * *

Sighing quietly Elena ran her fingers through her tresses as the cashier rung up her purchases, her eyes observing the boutique's little accessory rack.

A woven sea green, Caribbean blue, lilac purple and black bracelet caught her eye, along with an amber and violet Amore & Baci bracelet. With a smile, she placed the two on the counter; before she knew it she was out of the store, aviators perched on her nose and eyes searching for more places in the mall to kill her boredom.

The whirring of blenders reached her ears and the sweet, tangy scent of strawberries, cherries and raspberries wafted to her nose.

She felt a craving arise in her, but this time it was for something other than blood—which made her happy.

Smiling and humming pleasantly to herself, Elena followed the smells and sound to this "fruit paradise".

She hadn't treated herself like this in a_long_time, even when she was human.

Elena didn't have to wait long before she reached the medium sized stand, and she didn't have to wait long to order and receive her smoothie.

Her mouth latched onto the thick straw specially crafted for the drink's thickness.

_Mmmm, peach, strawberry, raspberry, cherry and a little guava _and_ banana._

Elena practically skipped away from the smoothie stand, passing other customers as her eyes surveyed the mall for other stores that caught her eyes.

She almost tripped over her own feet at what she spotted in her peripheral vision.

As soon as her eyes flicked over to the sunglasses island and saw a blond and brunette, Elena stopped dead center of the mall.

Elena walked slightly forward to avoid the gusher of customers pouring into the mall.

Her fingers peeled away the sunglasses just to ensure she wasn't imagining the faces of her best friends on stranger's faces. Eyes widening and her grip on her bag tightening she took in a shaky breath.

Elena felt panic course through her body as the girl's face's showed up in the larger mirror.

Part of her leapt in joy, because she really missed the two…the other part well, not so much.

Elena couldn't be seen, if they caught her she'd need to run and running wasn't in her plans. She wanted to things to go smooth, it'd be an easier transition for her into this life – god knows she was struggling still, months after her change.

Biting her lip, she put on her sunglasses, took a deep calming breath to center herself, and turned as she began to walk in the opposite direction, not even sparing a glance at the merry pair.

Her one goal now was to finish up shopping and get the hell out of the mall as fast as possible, without them noticing her or bumping into them.

But, her gut twisted minutes after when she felt two sets of eyes burning at her back.

**Xxxx**

The moment blood hit the back of his throat, he felt a wash of calm and stability enter his body.

He stood in his bathroom rounding up a few necessities for the upcoming trip to Denver.

Today was the day, when things would either hit the fan or they'd get lucky once again and be fine until the next disaster or dangerous plan came along.

Stefan had his little appointment with the teacher, and then he was off to kidnap the kid who saw dead people.

_Definitely just another one of those days._

Damon threw out the blood bag and picked up his chosen items, only to throw them haphazardly into the medium sized duffel bag – good enough for two days worth of clothing and some 'vampire hunting' tools he got off Ric. He'd been especially careful when he stowed away the vervain and wolfsbane grenades.

Rubbing his eyes, Damon took a moment and sat down with a sigh, he knew it was going to be a long day and night.

His plan was simple: get the kid, dodge originals, and hide the kid somewhere safe to go off and contact his dead people and figure out this damn vampire bloodline thing.

The whole thing really made his head hurt. He knew he was going to keep an eye out for Jeremy, now that they knew about the rings he had to make sure Jeremy didn't end up dead.

He so couldn't deal with two psycho vampire hating hunters.

Although Jeremy was far from being a hunter, he knew he shouldn't chance it.

He heard the door slam and awoke to reality again.

Stefan had just left.

Which meant the game was now on and Damon admittedly wasn't sure if he was ready this time.

All he could think about was what would go wrong this time.

_**XXX**_

As soon as she got back to her place she slammed the door shut and locked all the locks in place as if they could protect her from what she'd just seen, from the emotions welling up inside her.

Biting her lip, Elena dropped her purchases and placed her bag onto the counter as she ripped open the fridge and her eyes locked onto a bottle of raspberry Smirnoff.

Her fingers ripped it from its spot and she grabbed another blood bag from the dwindling stash.

Elena's movements were jerky as she poured the blood into a tall black mug and heated it up before adding the vodka.

Only when she seated herself on the couch and she began drinking the blood did her nerves calm themselves.

Her body lay slack against the length of the leather sofa, the material making cracking noises as she shifted around to get comfortable, eyes closed and head lolling to the side.

Before her mind lay the images of the incident at the mall, they sent shivers through her body and made her feel on edge and frantic.

_This_ wasn't supposed to happen.

This wasn't in her plans; they were supposed to be in Mystic Falls.

Honestly, of all places, why had they gone to Salt Lake City to shop?

Elena's eyes opened as she downed more of her drink to stabilize the panic rising in her body.

What if…they saw her?

Did they see her?

She had felt the sensation of eyes boring into her back as she had exited the mall in a quick but seemingly calm getaway.

Elena could not…_**no**_, would not tolerate nor handle them seeing her.

Because she didn't want to know what would happen after.

But she did know that it would involve her running away again and much needed explanations or a reluctant confrontation before running away.

And most definitely, more_guilt_—and she already had enough stirring inside her as it was.

Her fingers ran through her hair in frustration. Why couldn't it just be easy for once?

Why couldn't she be left to deal with_this_by herself?

She honestly didn't want to put them through anything else; she was sure if Bonnie found out that one more person close to her had turned she'd just lose it and have a major breakdown.

Elena wasn't sure she could even fathom seeing her friend tear apart further at the knowledge, especially if Elena couldn't control herself, or if she was a_Ripper_.

Her fingers curled tightly around the handle of the half empty mug in her hand at the term she was now branded with.

Stefan had been one and she'd heard stories already about it but now, she lived those stories herself and she'd wished she was just an ordinary vampire.

She didn't just feed and kill, she fed, decapitated them to their deaths. They suffered far worse then what they'd go through with a regular newborn vampire.

That is why she hadn't gone back yet, she didn't want to prey on anyone from her hometown like that, and what if it was a human near and dear to her?

The question was could she control herself?

Elena wasn't so sure, she had too long of a way to go it'd only be some odd months.

Chugging down the rest of the contents, Elena quickly cleaned the mug and checked the locks. She walked into her room and closed the blinds before shedding her shoes and slipping underneath the quilt she had brought with her that lay atop the bed's sheets.

Her eyes shut closed as she snuggled in, trying to escape from her reality filled with guilt, sadness, anger, pain, loss and stirring lust for blood—if just for a little while.

She would escape into a 'world' where she wouldn't have to worry being spotted by her friends.

_**Xxx**_

By the time afternoon arrived, he arrived at Jeremy's location.

He'd contacted him earlier via text message, alerting him of his arrival.

So he watched as the younger Gilbert gripped onto a baseball bat, helmet reaching near his eyebrows, and bat wiggling in his grasp in anticipation of the baseball. There was sheen of sweat on his brow and his lips tightened into a firm line in focus, eyes trained in front of him—burning with eagerness and determination.

He pocketed his hands and leaned against a pillar watching as Jeremy missed the ball dead on with a grunt.

_Ooh, Miss!_

Damon smirked and let out a whistle to get his attention.

Jeremy loosened his grip on the baseball bat and pivoted around, brown eyes locking onto his own icy ones as a silent message passed between the two men.

Damon gestured with the cock of his head to come over.

And without a word the younger Gilbert did as he was told and dropped the bat off into its shelf and the hat in its cubby before walking over to Damon.

"You sure you don't want me to compel you? Maybe I could even make you better at baseball," Damon joked. Jeremy scoffed at this.

"Man, what're you doing here?" Jeremy asked with a sigh sounding confused folding his arm together.

"We need to talk," Damon gestured for him to follow him as he walked away.

Only when he felt like there was enough distance between prying ears did he speak.

"I need your help." He asked seriously looking in his eyes as they faced one another.

Jeremy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "For what?"

"Well you have a special ability,"

"Yea I know, so what?"

"I need you to contact someone for me, it's important." The two began looking not at each other but at the ground.

"Why?"

"_Because_."

"Really, because?" Jeremy gave him a look.

Damon sighed and lowered his voice so only Jeremy could hear. "Because we found out that if the Original vampire who started our bloodline, who sired the person that sired Rose, dies, then we go too."

"So, how does this involve me?" Jeremy stopped making Damon stop again reluctantly.

"I need you to talk to Rose so I can find out who sired her and track them down, and consequently know what Original to keep alive and which ones to kill." Damon shrugged making it sound so simple.

"Are you serious?" Jeremy shot him a 'are you crazy look'.

"What?" Damon asked, feeling a little out of the loop.

"_You _drove all the way to across the country…just so I could talk to a dead vampire?" he said sounding incredulous.

"Well, dead vampire is…redundant, but yes."

Jeremy let out another scoff and began walking away, which caused Damon to roll his eyes. "Well, I can't. I could talk to Anna and Vicky 'cause I knew them. I've never _even _meet Rose." He glanced at Damon weirdly turning towards him.

"What good is your dying and then coming back to life again if I can't have you talk to a ghost when I need you too?" he rose an eyebrow at him in frustration, sighing to himself.

"Look man, I don't know what you want me to say." He shrugged and they walked in silence for a few seconds.

Damon shook his head and just before he was going to open his mouth, Jeremy had an expression on his face as if the answer to the cure to a serious disease came to his mind. "What if I used you as a connection to contact her?"

"I mean, you were close to her right? So you could be like my anchor to talking to her?"

Damon nodded his eyes unfocused as thoughts began swimming in his head.

"Good, fine…so can we do this later? My friend just got here."

Damon went to open his mouth with a smirk on his lips but Jeremy cut him off.

"And, yes Damon…I actually have some, so don't even go there."

He shook his head, still grinning. "I don't know what you're talking about; I wasn't going to say a thing." He held his hands up in mock surrender

With a tired sigh Jeremy walked past Damon. "I'll call you when I'm done."

"Yea, yea…just hurry up."

Not even a second after he heard a laugh that sent a chill through his blood. "Well, well. Look who we have here,"

Damon turned around with wide eyes to face Kol—one original who he really hadn't wanted to see today.

In his left hand he held a wooden bat resting against the side of his neck with a infuriating smirk plastered on his face that he greeted Jeremy with before turning towards Damon a feral fire burning in his eyes, daring the older Salvatore to do something.

Jeremy just stood dumbfounded and in shock behind Kol, staring between the two vampires.

"Looks like the third wheel came out to play?" His head cocked to the side, smirk growing wider.

Damon clenched his fists and teeth, eyes blazing.

Forgetting everything Damon bit out, "Shut up."

That only made Kol's smirk widen. "That's not very appropriate."

In an instant, Kol was in front of him swinging that bat hard against him.

The wood breaking in half at the impact it made against Damon's face, who fell to the ground in a daze.

"What the hell man!" Jeremy exclaimed, his voice sounding off in the midst of the ringing in his head.

"No hard feelings mate, but we're not 'buds'." He flashed over towards the bat shelf at the side and picked up an aluminum bat with a frown making a tsking noise. "You know, I'll never get used to aluminum,"

Through unfocused eyes he saw Kol doubles appraising matching bats, chuckling. "But, at least it won't break."

Kol flashed over and swung at Damon again, but Damon was faster by a second this time and caught it mid-swing.

Reaching quickly over, he took the broken, sharp ended piece of the destroyed baseball bat and shoved it right through Kol's abdomen with a grunt of effort. Blood dripped down to his hands, and he heard the squishing sound of organs and flesh resisting against the intrusion of the bat.

Kol fell to his knees unconscious as Damon dropped the bat to the ground, trying to catch his breath.

He got to his knees blindly, knowing he wouldn't have much time left before Kol was up and at it again.

"Did you kill him?" His eyes met Jeremy's.

"No, but it'll give us a head start." He grunted standing up as pain washed over him.

Grabbing the kid, he got the hell out of there before Mr. Sunshine decided to rejoin the conscious world.

**Xxx**

Stefan looked up from his book stared at the wall shielding his view of the hunter as he heard Alaric awake with a groan from his spot on the ground.

"Did I...uh," 'Ric cleared his throat.

Stefan cut him off, knowing what he was referring to. "No, no, you pretty much…laid there dead for half the night." His eyes flickered over to the ground as if he had been captivated by something extremely interesting there.

Standing up Stefan walked slowly over to the history teacher by day, vampire hunter by night who decided to get up on his feet. "But, on the plus side, I did almost finish reading Moby Dick." He threw the heavy book onto the little table near the cot with a humorless smile and an equally humorless tone.

'Ric wore a tired, haggard and frustrated look on his face. "This…is stupid."He spoke, his breaths coming out unevenly.

The younger Salvatore met the teacher's eyes with unreadable emotions. "Evil me, or whatever you want to call him, is not gonna make an appearance…why would he?" he said more than asked with exasperation.

Alaric scoffed to himself, looking away muttering out loud. "I mean, the best hiding place is the one where you can't find the person who hid it." His eyes re-locking onto Stefan's in frustration.

Stefan nodded, feeling sympathy for Ric. "I know."

He knew what he needed to do and he had hoped he wouldn't have to result to his backup plan, but they didn't have many options here.

Speaking of backup, where in the hell was Caroline or Bonnie?

Sighing quietly to himself he shook the question away for a moment.

Stefan had no time to think of that, he had to disobey his brother's wishes; he didn't have the time to wait.

They needed to do this now.

They needed that stake.

"So how do you want to do this?" the hunter said, resigned to what he knew would be coming next.

A small lump formed in his throat at the thought of what he knew he had to do, his stomach churning not in nausea but in uneasiness. "I don't _want _to do any of this."

Alaric looked away, shifting around to turn away from his friend—and soon to be tormentor. "Well that makes two of us." Sighing quietly he fingered the resurrection ring before slipping it off. "But I don't think we have much choice in the matter."

"Wait, wait what are you doing, you _need _that ring." Stefan spoke quickly keeping a careful eye on Alaric.

"No I don't. What_I need_ is hope that my alter ego doesn't have a death wish." Alaric placed his ring atop the cot's bedding

With serious eyes, Alaric turned to Stefan. "So, I'm taking bets that my dark side has a sense of self-preservation." His muscles rolled underneath his flesh, relaxing and preparing for the inevitable attack.

"So let's see if he defends himself against death."

Stefan shook his head, looked away and scoffed at Alaric's resignation and recklessness.

Didn't he _get _that so much could go so wrong.

He couldn't do this, wouldn't do it.

Not to Ric.

Anyone else and it might've been easier; if he had that switch flicked then this would've been easier.

But reality is…he hadn't.

"Look, Alaric, I'm not gonna kill you…okay?" He began distancing himself, hoping he would back off from the idea.

"If we have any chance with this Stefan, you're going to have to _try_." He expressed firmly, his eyes still unreadable and determined; 'eyes on the prize'.

Stefan felt tension rise in his bones with indecision.

He knew that it would come to this, but he had hoped it wouldn't

But now that they were at this impasse, could Stefan resort to the backup plan he and Damon talked about?

Maybe, if he was his brother, maybe he could set it all to the side.

The friendship, any feelings of remorse and _just do it_.

But, he wasn't Damon.

He wasn't even sure if Damon would be able to do this.

Stefan ground his teeth together in frustration at his decision.

How far would he have to go to wake up the dark part of Alaric…the brink of death?

The weight of Alaric's gaze only made things worse.

Looking sideways to Alaric his eyes ran over his face, trying to spot any crack in his decision in hopes to find a way out of this.

But Alaric was unrelenting and unreadable except for determination and resignation, just awaiting Stefan to get it all over with.

Something twisted in his gut but he swallowed it away, his choice made.

He knew what he had to do and he couldn't back out of this now.

There was no time.

**Xxx**

Caroline cursed as she sped down the highway, pushing down on the accelerator harder when she saw what time it was.

"Whoa! Caroline, slow down." Bonnie gripped onto her seat in the front when Caroline switched lanes sharply.

The road was fairly empty with only the occasionally car zipping past.

"Can't remember?" Caroline's eyes narrowed in determination to get to Mystic Falls as fast as she could even if not safely.

"Well we aren't going to get there at all if we get in an accident!" Caroline pressed down harder for a few seconds before slowing down when she saw a cop car in the rearview mirror, letting them pass.

"Look, I'm sorry but honestly…I need to get to Mystic Falls. I have this twisting feeling in my gut that something's not right. Plus, I promised Stefan I'd be there to have his back with getting that stake." Her fingers loosened and then re-gripped the steering wheel as she leaned forward, eyes scanning the fast waning light.

It had already gotten dark.

With normal speed, they'd arrive soon—but soon was too far away.

Soon wasn't soon enough, her stomach was churning in uneasiness because she knew that things never went as planned.

God knows Caroline was worried about what tricks and obstacles would reveal themselves tonight.

"Well it looks like with your speed-demon driving, we should be there soon. I'm so sorry Caroline…it's all my fault." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Bonnie shake her head with a tight mouth.

"Explain?" Caroline slowed down a bit more.

Taking a deep breath, Bonnie turned to her bestfriend. "Look, we wasted our time searching for Elena. Today was supposed to be about shopping and girl time and money burning, but I guess I saw things when there was nothing there. I ruined our whole day, but I can't just stop worrying about it and asking why?"

Caroline's expression softened and she glanced at Bonnie for a second before turning away, her voice soft and sweet. "No, Bonnie. You didn't ruin our day, we had a kickass time shopping and goofing off…which we haven't and don't get to do often. It was nice and much needed, and I get it. You miss Elena. It's normal…'cause I miss her too. I'm her other best friend and I wonder about all that too but like I said, she must've had her reasons and all we can do right now is deal with what's in front of us and hope that she is okay somewhere on the sidelines. I have a feeling she'll be back, so stop worrying!" Her lips upturned into a classic 'Caroline grin'.

Bonnie felt a little lighter at Caroline's words.

Sometimes Caroline really knew what to say to a person.

"Anyways, it's not like anything bad came from our little sleuthing activities. I mean I picked up some hot shades and I totally felt like a Bond girl. And, then we did some more shopping to get back into the girl's day out mood. So I can't really complain about it." Bonnie laughed, causing Caroline to giggle.

"But right now I'm so not loving the taking our time thing." She shifted around impatiently wishing she could just teleport them and her car into Mystic falls, at the Boarding house.

Sighing, Bonnie rolled her eyes despite the smile still playing on her lips. "_Fine_, go for it '_Bond Girl_.'"

Grinning wider Caroline hit the accelerator, ripping down the now empty road.

She couldn't help but feel on edge and desperate to reach Stefan.

**Xxx**

With a loud _thwack_, Stefan's fist met Alaric's face.

Alaric was propelled right against the wall, his hands shooting out at the wall to protect his face from more damage.

He let out a pained grunt, hunching over for a second in pain before panting and righting himself against the wall.

He had done it quickly, so that the hunter wouldn't be prepared and change his mind.

Alaric looked pissed, which kind of surprised Stefan a bit—but kind of made him feel annoyed.

"You're not putting enough effort into _this_." He spat on the verge of growling.

Disgust and venom flared in the history teacher's eyes as his mouth formed a tight line.

"If I put anymore into it I'm going to break your spine." He growled before his fist impacted Alaric's face again.

Alaric let out another groan of pain as his body hit the floor on all fours.

Stepping away, he took a moment to catch his breath as well as the man on the ground.

Spitting Alaric panted in pain, groaning as he assessed the damage.

Blood was pouring through his fingers from his nose and mouth, a puddle forming beneath his face.

As soon as he caught the scent, Stefan tensed and backed away—panting with bloodlust.

He felt the burning ache in his throat and gums, the beast rattling inside its cage within him.

His face already showed signs of the change within him, dark lines and dilated pupils with blood tinging the occuli.

He wanted the rich wine laying inside of Ric, the red glistening up at him like rubies in a treasure cave that beckoned him near, calling him and tempting him like some sort of Succubus in the night.

It promised him sweet ecstasy that he could find nowhere else but within its content and taste.

It's what the predator inside salivated over, dreamed and thirsted for _every waking hour_.

Alaric glanced up at him with blood marred features, expression unreadable but knowledge stirring in the depths of his eyes. The shadows in the dim cell cast a twisted light onto the hunter lying so vulnerable before him, pouring out the life-source that he craved.

No, he no longer wanted it. He _needed _it.

"Well don't back down now." 'Ric poked tauntingly.

"No, no, no, no…I can't…the blood." He backed away flinching as Alaric steadied himself on his feet, putting a hand out as if a mere limb could shield him from his darkest desire.

Stefan couldn't even look at Alaric nor the blood-puddle he half stood in.

He hadn't yet gained the control and restraint that his brother had over the century and decades.

"_Oh, come on_, you're past that" Alaric righted his swaying body again, taking a step closer while forcing Stefan back with wide eyes.

"No, I'm _not_." Another step back as he bit out, getting frustrated from the denial of his thirst.

"Well, use it," A step closer, another step back.

"Give into it!" Alaric neared further.

"Try and _kill me _Stefan, come on!" he yelled baiting him, still panting in exertion.

"Not like this Alaric." Stefan shook his head backing away like a cornered dog as Alaric kept getting closer.

"_Yes_, like this," He said firmly.

"You're gonna have to want to kill me for me to believe that you will." Blood dripped from his chin, tempting him further.

Stefan _really _wasn't sure how long he could keep the top on the devil jar before the demon exploded out and ripped Alaric for every single drop of blood he was good for, Vervain in his system or not.

"I go this far, I may not be able to stop." His mind was becoming hazy with thirst, forming words was becoming difficult as was breathing.

Only one word kept ringing clearly in his head.

_KILL_.

"_Listen_, if you want the answers from my darkest side, you're going to need to tap into _yours_." His words sharp in Stefan's ears.

Alaric's gaze was intense, pushing him further into a corner as if the blood pouring out of him wasn't enough.

"_**So, don't back down."**_One last step and Stefan was pinned with his back against the wall, lip curling as he struggled to restrain himself and gums tingling, itching and aching.

"_Don't _fight it, just do it." Alaric's voice was echoing in his head.

Two voices waring in his mind, Alaric's telling him to give in mixing with his restraint—the part of him that screamed to gain control and hold onto some shred of sanity and not give in to his bloodlust.

Alaric's face was inches away from his own, alcohol drifting to his nose mixing into the sweet scent of blood.

Both were breathing heavily from strain in the silence.

Something shifted right then, in Alaric's eyes, who grabbed at his shoulders, shoving Stefan into the wall angrily.

With a curl of his lips Alaric shouted two words in his face that set him and his vampire senses off. "DO IT!" his voice reverberating in the cell.

Growling in frustration, the dark veins shifted underneath the surface of his face, his eyes darkening and blood red bleeding into the whites as he forced Alaric off of him with a snarl.

As harsh breaths left his lips, he fought to calm himself down, staring down at the injured man before him.

Who began…laughing?

His face returned to normal while he stared with confusion, feeling as if he missed out on some _joke_.

Alaric's body began to shake as he turned to face him, his face distorted by the blood and shadows.

If Stefan had just walked in, he would say that this man wasn't Alaric at all, because he looked so cynical and unlike the man he knew he hardly recognized him.

He wore a crazed expression and grinned up at the younger Salvatore as if Stefan had just told him an insanely hilarious joke.

"You're so _weak_." His voice was venom and wickedness.

Again Alaric got to his feet, but Stefan stood frozen in awe and confusion at what he was witnessing.

The two were footsteps apart, electricity cracking in a _bad _way.

Stefan felt a shift in the air and unconsciously took note of a change in the hunter as well.

"Look at you," he spoke again, pity lacing his tone along with the darkness rising in him.

The blood dripped down into his mouth as he strived to catch his breath in-between words. Alaric's lips twitched, yearning to smirk. "One of… nature's most…hideous, creatures, and you can't even get that right." Another bait he knew he shouldn't take.

But, this time he couldn't resist and his judgment clouded over.

If it's a fight Ric wanted, he'd get it.

"You" Stefan whispered.

A light smirk adorned Alaric's parted lips as his eyes burned into Stefan's with a message _to not back down._

"Me." He echoed back, unwaveringly challenging one of the world's most deadliest predators in front of him.

_**Xxx**_

Music blaring from the radio situated on her night-table was the reason she jolted awake at 11:56 later that morning. Her head ached slightly but she shook it off as she sat upright, almost slumping back into the soft, cool bedcovers.

With an irritated groan and waking mind, Elena slid off the bed sluggishly and hit the reset button on her clock to shut off the obnoxious tune. Her sleepy eyes adjusting quickly to the dark, curtained room as if she were standing around with the lights switched on.

She ended up dragging herself to the kitchen to open the fridge where her face was greeted with cool air that smelled like booze and blood. The latter sent a pang of hunger through her which she planned to fulfill _very _soon.

Sticking to her plan she grabbed three blood bags and nuked them each for some odd seconds before pouring two of them in her favorite, large mug.

The other was to be her spare.

Elena slipped in some home-made cinnamon buns into the oven for a few minutes which she began to eat for brunch.

She'd been taking up some baking to fill in her free schedule.

And as soon as her laptop booted up she was on Facebook checking on her two supernatural BFF's.

She let out a relieved sigh when she spotted nothing terrible or revealing about Elena's location, which left her to check on her brother.

Admittedly, Elena had been checking on her brother via his social networking sites, only to make her feel at ease with the idea that he was by himself in another country.

She knew sending him out of Mystic Falls was better than keeping him there, but with him absent from her side she couldn't make sure he was doing fine or if any of the Originals wandered over or had him captive.

That was one fear she'd had in the back of her mind even when she was human, and it had been amplified two-fold when she turned. For all she knew he could be a hostage or at the mercy of Kol or whatever pissed off Original – she wouldn't put it past it for Klaus' sister to fly into Denver and hurt him just to hurt Elena, even when she was out of the picture.

Elena gnawed on her lip gently as her eyes slowly took in every detail of his wall – messages sent back and forth to other's pages, switching from drinking from the mug and taking a bite out of one of two buns as she did so.

Her eyes took in a goofy picture of Jeremy and some guys at the batting cages, making her smile warmly and a pang in her gut developed as did a lump in her throat.

She felt her eyes water over as she looked through more pictures he had posted; now abandoning reading the rest of the messages on the wall.

Her lip quivered at every picture she went through – especially the ones starring the both of them.

There were even some pictures of their parents and the pair of siblings.

_Those_ especially made her feel like someone kicked her in the gut because they brought memories of a simpler time in their lives when vampires, witches, and wolves never existed. Where the biggest horror was failing classes, worrying about the dances running smoothly and some of the 'evil teachers' being unfair and unreasonable, being cheated on by boyfriends and the like.

Just regular high school drama.

But that was a fairytale concept of a life because she wasn't human, and neither was everyone around here.

The mythic creatures that were the stuff of fairytales and Hollywood were now reality, and they weren't as fluffy as Twilight or how the media portrayed them.

It was hell at times.

Though, she had to say that she didn't regret meeting Stefan or even…_Damon_. She was sure if things were different— if it'd just stopped with them—things would've ended up better.

But of course it hadn't.

Sighing shakily to herself she rubbed at her eyes where tears began to hit her cheeks.

It took her a few deep breaths but she got through the rest of the pictures unflinchingly as well as her 'meal'.

Elena returned to Jeremy's wall and finished where she left off, her hand cupping her cheek as her lips tugged at the corners, upwards at some of the recent statuses.

_Good, he's enjoying himself._

That's all she could ask for, never mind her feelings.

She'd rather he was happy.

Her fingers tapped rhythmically against the marble top of the table, making clinking sounds.

The desire to physically check up on Jeremy in Denver was worsening to the point where she actually had to click the X on the web page.

Getting up to clean her dishes, Elena wondered if it'd be so bad to just pop in.

It wouldn't take her long to fly in and it was still fairly early enough for her to take that 1 hour or so flight in to Denver just to check in on him and then disappear again.

Just as she shut off the tap, she heard a vibrating sound from the breakfast nook island.

As soon as she dried her hands her brow furrowed.

Who the hell was texting her?

She brought up the message and her body relaxed, with a smirk on her lips.

_You free today, darling? ;)_

**I am now, why?**

_I'm bored…and I thought since it's been a few weeks we should 'reconnect' and have those drinks I promised you awhile ago. ;D_

**Where are you?**

_Denver._

**Denver, how come so far away?**

_Got bored, need a newer hideout other than Georgia and Phoenix._

**I don't know….**

She walked over to her computer already booting up the internet.

_Oh, come on…please? Just meet me I promise you won't regret it and that you'll have fun and enjoy yourself. ;) I promise, pinky swear?_

**Hmmm, I don't know other than drinks…what's in it for me; I'm not exactly **_**that **_**close either. And really? Pinky swear…are we still mentally developing, if you haven't noticed we're texting so that's virtually and realistically impossible.**

_How about…a kick-ass time with a hunk of a guy? I'm game for whatever you want to do. Awww, don't rain on my parade sweetheart .;'(_

**Okay, okay you big baby – I'll be there later.**

_YES! Awesome, text me just before you get in – I'm in the need for some fun. I'll pick you up. I promise many pleasures; I promise I won't disappoint you tonight. ;D_

Rolling her eyes, her eyes flicked over flight times until she found a perfect one in the afternoon and purchased it.

A smile illuminated her face and for once she felt entirely carefree and excited in a good way for something other than the kill.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **_Is it her 'new' boyfriend, is he a vampire, who could it be? Will Elena meet up with our 'dark prince'

_Find out next chapter, more to come soon my dearest readers~ ;P_


	5. Chapter 5: Rownan, Killer Of The Night

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries which includes both the book and T.V. series. Only L.J. smith owns the character's and anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries series. I merely am writing a fanfiction plot I came up with and **_any made up character's that aren't affiliated with Vampire Diaries I do own_._**(L.J. Smith owns this series still even if she has been fired and a ghost writer has taken over after Midnight, she spent so long on it that in my books she will forever be the owner of everything Vampire Diaries – even if she isn't on the books any longer.)**

_**Summary: **__No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun. No more can she curse for the things she has done. Reaching for what she once had, she leaves destruction, suffering and bodies in her wake. She is the _Ripper_**. **__Is salvation a possibility for her, who will be the one to offer it to her? Prince charming on his white horse or the dark knight who will kill for her._

_**Authors note: **__Enjoy.~_

_**Songs in order (one song per each scene or POV): **__Paint the Pictures by Of Verona, Kill Of The Night by Gin Wigmore, A Case Of The Swirls By Spinerette, A Prescription For Mankind by Spinnerette (Elena's scene after Damon's/Jeremy's), Wasted by Low vs Diamond (Last POV)  
_

* * *

Outside the plane window she saw the sun shining, floating among the puffy, white clouds and light blue backdrop.

Her chin rested in the middle of her palm as she relaxed against the cushiony seat.

Excitement was welling up inside of her with each minute that passed. She couldn't wait to get to Denver and see her brother; even if it was from a safe distance, she was content with just enough of a peek that she could see he was alright.

Elena spotted a white bird cutting through the window and she smiled at the carefree nature of the bird in flight.

All she could think of was her brother and a smile on his face that she hoped to see when she checked in on him.

Jeremy was the real reason she was on this plane, the real reason she was traveling to Denver.

_**Xxx**_

As soon as she exited the plan with the single suitcase she had packed and her purse, her eyes rested on the silver and black automobile parked a little ways from the plane in the parking area.

A figure was resting against the car's length.

Elena's feet led her in the direction towards the nonchalant figure with a cross between a smile and a smirk playing on her face.

His white gold hair with strawberry blond tones were tousled artfully on top of the crown of the head, eyes shaded behind midnight blue wraparound Ray Bans. His feet were crossed casually, black motorcycle boots glinting in the light, and his acid washed jeans were complimented with a midnight sleeveless shirt and unzipped jet-black leather jacket.

A smoking cigarette hung from his grinning lips as his eyes caught hers, a single blond brow arched up as if in question.

In his ear was Lapis Lazuli stud, and on his right finger was a platinum silver and Lapis Lazuli ring with an R branded on the stone for _Rownan._

He silently took her animal print suitcase and placed it in the trunk, then opened the car door for her like a gentlemen before he slid into his own seat.

They didn't speak until he had started the car and driven out of the parking lot.

"You know I'm actually surprised you came." He tilted his head in her direction, voice as smooth and deep as velvet, as rich as wine, glancing between her and the road.

His other hand rested on the cigarette as he took a long drag, blowing the smoke from the side of his mouth and out the window and flicking the ashes onto the ground.

Cloves and nicotine wafted to her nose, calming her with the familiar scent.

"I am too; I was actually talking myself out of it before I walked out the door." She smiled brighter, staring out the passenger window at the blurring scenery. Elena decided to omit the fact she had been purchasing her plane ticket as she spoke to him via text—there really was no need to fuel his ego fire.

"Well I'm glad. I had a feeling you'd be bored being cooped up and away from civilization at the odd hours." His Russian accent was bleeding into his American lilt.

Elena shrugged. "I needed to get out and explore—plus I have to admit I didn't come just to see you." She said truthfully, not worried about hurting his feelings.

He chuckled beside her. "I don't know whether I should be feeling hurt or congratulate you for braving the world today. So…I'll choose the latter. He or she must be one lucky person."

"Yeah thanks, I guess. I thought I'd just check in to see if they were alright before crawling back to my cave." She smirked at her reference to her safe house; it made it sound like a prison…which it was sometimes.

"Well, I promised that you would have a good time today." He smiled genuinely.

"We'll see how you do." Her words caused him to laugh out loud before he took a steadying drag from his cigarette, chucking the tiniest bit of the cigarette out the window.

"I'll try not to disappoint," he chuckled.

Not long afterwards they parked in the motel's parking lot before heading up to his room.

As soon as she got into the room she plopped down on the sofa and set her suitcase down beside her, resting fully against the couch.

He shucked off his jacket beside her and walked into the kitchen.

"Do you want any?" She turned towards him and he was juggling a handful of chilled blood bags and a bottle of Russian vodka.

A pang of hunger hit her at the sight of them and she nodded with a hungry look in her eyes.

He turned away with a knowing smile and began making the drinks.

Groaning Elena stretched her arms above her head, fingers wiggling around. "I haven't fed since this morning! I'm so _thirsty_; even the flight attendants began to look super tasty," she joked.

Tsking playfully, he spoke in a half hearted disapproving tone. "You know, you shouldn't do that. It's tougher being around humans—especially as a Ripper,"

She heard the clinking of glass. "If you attempted a successful live-feed, you'd definitely drain the person." He walked over with two large wine glasses and handed her one, plopping down beside her.

"I know, you told me that before, I was just lazy this morning." She eagerly took a sip, an expression of ecstasy marring her features at the taste, dark veins shifting for a few seconds underneath her skin before fading away.

"I know…I'm just trying to help you with this – I'm still a ripper, remember? I've been where you've been." She glanced at him, his face slightly pained at a fleeting memory.

Rownan had become a vampire six years before her at the age of 26; he'd become a ripper after killing his girlfriend—just after proposing to her on Valentine's Day.

He'd told Elena that he had shut off his emotions for three years, tearing apart his victims until one day he came across a woman and her child—a woman that instantly reminded him of his dead fiance. Rownan compelled her to forget and let his humanity in, sick of senselessly ripping apart one human after the other.

He thought some human sympathy would help Elena resist her urges.

Rownan was getting closer to controlling himself—he only killed about 2 out of 4 people when he attempted live-feeding.

Elena sighed and pushed back strands of hair that had begun falling into her eyes, tongue swiping over her teeth.

She tilted her head back for a second reveling in the silence and kicked her feet up on the table. Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair and took a minute to unwind from her constant worries and troubles.

Her tongue swiped against her teeth again and she got an idea as the appendage curved over the tip of her canines.

"Well practice makes perfect, right?" she grinned feeling suddenly mischievous, sitting up properly and turning to face Rownan.

Her words made him arch a brow and grin alongside her.

Slowly she crawled over to him, feeling her gums aching to sink her fangs into something,_anything_.

The blood had only reminded her how _hungry _she was.

Elena licked her lips before gingerly removing his shades, revealing twin pools of golden amber, glowing in playfulness, anticipation, and wonder.

She placed them on the table before turning back to him with slightly parted lips.

Bending her head, Elena dragged her tongue along the side of his neck, feeling the pulsing artery.

With a curve of her lips she retracted her fangs and slid them into the flesh there, blood pouring like syrup down her throat. She leant closer against him and rested her fingers on his shoulders while he relaxed against the sofa.

The taste of his blood wasn't the same, but her fangs had really wanted to slice through something—and Rownan was the safest person to fulfill the desire with because if she felt herself lose control he could at least get her to stop.

Her fingers threaded through his hair and she tugged up, tilting his head just a little for easier flow.

Her fangs embedded themselves further into the flesh and Rownan groaned at the intrusion, hand resting on her shoulder ready to pull her away if she lost herself.

He was losing himself in pure pleasure.

Where Rownan had been practicing his control with humans, Elena had every so often – when she could - practiced on Rownan.

He let her because he was sympathetic of her situation.

It creeped on her slowly, the desire to tear him apart to squeeze every drop of blood out of him.

Sensing this, he pushed her off, her fangs ripping away from his neck and the shallow wound healing fast.

Rownan took a huge gulp of his drink to compensate for the loss of blood.

She licked her lips to clean the evidence of her previous act, watching Rownan catch his breath for a second before regarding her. "Wow, we haven't done this in awhile haven't we?"

"It's been a while," She confirmed crossing her legs, resting her head against the end of the long sofa.

"I forgot how good it felt." Elena rolled her eyes at his mock seductive tone and threw a pillow at his head.

"Cute, I find it funny that it's usually me that feeds from you and not the other way around."

"That's probably because when I invite you over or I visit, you haven't fed for a bit – probably so you can feed off me as an excuse to taste my delicious blood." He wiggled his eyebrows mock suggestively.

"Oh, that's it, definitely," She shook her head, hardly concealing the smile she was fighting.

Rownan rubbed his face relaxed now by endorphins. "You know, I told you you should've fed on the plane – even if it had to be in the plane bathroom."

"I've tried that once and ended up spilling blood all over the place and not in the good way." She raised her eyebrows joking again.

He shook his head taking both their glasses to clean them, turning to her after with a serious expression.

"So how goes the live-feeding experience."

Elena watched as he turned his back on her to dry off his hands and only responded when he plopped down to seat himself nearer her. "Let's just say it's been a ripping good time." She said solemnly, closing her eyes – images of her recent killings replaying like some trailer in her head, the more gruesome details magnified.

"It'll get better, over time. It has to, what is down must come up right?" He gave her a sincere look.

Sighing, Rownan closed his eyes before his face shifted into a playful expression, mirroring her own a mere moment ago. "Anyways, never mind the heavy duty stuff. You're here to have fun and I'm here to entertain you." He smirked and pushed back fallen strands of white-gold before leaning closer to her.

Her eyes locked onto his golden amber ones, wondering what he had planned for her.

Then he was upon her, quicker then she had been with him. "My turn" he whispered lowly, voice rumbling. He cradled her head in his palm and tipped it back gently before burying his face in her neck, mouth latching onto the pulse thrumming there and tongue darting out to taste the salt of her skin and fangs burying themselves in her flesh as if they were knives cutting into butter.

Her mind couldn't focus on anything except what was happening at the moment.

_**Xxx**_

Moments later she stood at the batting cages, hidden in shadows – eyes shaded with her aviators.

Her eyes surveyed the area, searching for her brother's familiar face.

It took her only a few minutes to find him in the rush of people walking back and forth past her, none acknowledging her or spotting her.

Elena felt an ache in her chest when his face came into full view as he put on a helmet and surveyed the bats.

Two guys strolled over to him with goofy grins on their faces, Elena tensed listening into their conversation to make sure neither of them were a threat to Jeremy.

When they all broke into laughter she visibly relaxed but kept her arms crossed to send the signal that she didn't want to be approached.

She leant her head against the wall taking in his happy expression and just listening to the sound of his voice. It sent a trill of calmness through her body and made her feel more sane and in control about her situation. She felt almost…_human_.

Her lips quirked into a smile when Jeremy told them about a certain baseball incident involving him ending up with an ice-pack on his head, a huge bruise and one prominent black eye, of course earning him a fit of laughter from the two.

The sun shone on him, lighting up his features and turning his eyes the color of honey with tiny flecks of emerald in them.

Elena took in a huge breath of sweet air and her nose picked up a crowd of scents including a musky vintage vanilla permeating from somewhere she couldn't detect – it wasn't too strong either so she ignored it.

As soon as the air shifted she tensed up again and sighed deciding not to even turn because she knew who it was. "Ah, is this the boyfriend?" Rownan teased.

Elena looked taken back. "Uh, no…he's close to me though."

"Oops my bad. Well this is awkward isn't it?" He rocked back and forth on the heel of his shoes, his eyes glancing every which way.

"It wasn't until you brought it up and even now…it's not really." She rolled her eyes not able to help the smile.

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood, you look all sulky over here by your lonesome, honestly, you've checked in – now how about some fun time." When she turned to Rownan he had his eyebrows arched with a huge smile on his face practically daring to object and get on a plane back to Salt Lake City.

"You know, I'm sure you're the one that's sulky," Rownan feigned hurt.

Shaking her head she uncrossed her arms. "Okay you big baby, let's go."

She glanced one more time at Jeremy with a serene smile on her face and when she took her eyes off him, her stomach dropped just ever so slightly and she felt a loss in her.

Elena squared her shoulders and turned her back on the last family member she had left in this world.

She didn't even look back. It hurt too much already.

_**XxX**_

"So where are we?" Jeremy asked looking back for a second at Damon while he travelled to the steps.

"The corner of nowhere and somewhere where Kol can't find us." Damon grunted as he threw one of the bags over his shoulder, starting off in the same direction as the younger Gilbert.

Jeremy shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe Kol was a vampire,"

Damon scoffed. "Well, didn't you find it weird that you made a friend so fast…Have _you _met _you_?"

Jeremy shot him a look and let out a empty laugh. "_Funny."_

Jeremy opened the door of the motel room letting it swing back, Damon entering a minute after.

With a relieved sigh he tossed the bags on top of one of the singles, stretching his muscles out afterwards.

"Sorry it's not some ancient burial ground." Damon began closing the curtains with a smirk, peering out the window before closing them fully.

"So what do you need…candles, incense…pottery wheel?" Jeremy scoffed at Damon who smirked and got a slight glare in return.

The younger Gilbert walked towards the chairs situated at the curtained window where a small wooden table sat. "That's not how it works." He said sighing a little annoyed at the teasing, he felt like one of those 'ghost whispers' on T.V.

"I know, I know." He said sound apologetic for that one.

He shucked his jacket off trying to lighten the mood. "You push from the other side and I pull from this one."

Cutting to the chase Jeremy crossed his legs and locked eyes with the older brother. "Alright, so do you have a picture of her?" he shrugged off his jacket slowly for a second.

"A picture? From what…_Disneyland_?" Damon questioned, sounding a bit incredulous.

He ran his fingers through his raven locks in frustration wishing, this could just be as easy as snapping his fingers. "C'mon Rose, you're not actually gonna make us wait are ya?"

Damon's lips twisted into a mix between a smirk and huge grin. "I know you're obsessed with me…" Damon turned around as if Rose would appear behind him with that devious smile of hers. But all he got was another scoff from Jeremy who was giving him a look that said _seriously?_

Rubbing his eyes Jeremy leaned forward his face contorted with thought. "Alright uh…tell me something about her?"

Thinking Damon sat at the edge of the bed closest to Jeremy. "Um…well, she did this little thing with her tongue…" he broke off with a sly look on his face, blue eyes shining with mischief.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "_Honestly_, that's not helping me here…_be serious_, tell me something that matters."

Resting his elbows on his knees Damon leaned forward and trained his gaze downwards on something he could only see, his voice soft and a touch distant. "She spent her last day in paradise, soaking in the sun and reminiscing about what it means to be human,"

His voice was scratchy with his last words. "And when death came, she didn't fear it…"

"It was in the dream you gave her…she's here." Jeremy leant back while Damon looked around him in question and with eagerness glowing in his eyes.

"Is she lonely on the other side?" Jeremy closed his eyes and listened to Rose who he had spotted standing on other side of the table near the door.

"_No I enjoy it; I was running so much when I was alive…now I have the freedom to do whatever I want." _Opening his eyes he saw Rose seat herself next to Damon who was looking out of the loop. He'd laugh at this moment but it was too serious of a time for that.

"She says not to worry—she's happy." He said with a smile, resting his leg over his knee.

"Is she still hot?" Damon asked trying to keep it light and from part of his façade from cracking.

"_You tell him he's still dripping with sex too." _Rose grinned as her eyes took him in, Jeremy wasn't afraid to shoot her a look as well.

"**Fine**_, tell him I miss him."_

Feeling like some messenger errand boy Jeremy relayed her message wishing they could just get the answers they were looking for. "She misses you."

"_And tell him, I'm still rooting for _**him and Elena**_." _Rose's smile widened.

With a confused expression, he glanced away with furrowed brows.

Clearing his throat he edited the message still looking confused while he looked at Damon dead straight in the eyes who was also looking confused. "She uh, she misses…both of you."

"_Both _of us?" Damon cocked his head to the side confusion more so pronounced.

"Yea." Jeremy nodded feeling like something was off.

"Uh, yea…you and Elena?" he questioned more than said.

As soon as his sister's name was out of his mouth he saw something unreadable burning in Damon's eyes. Damon averted his eyes and the faraway look returned as if he was remembering something.

Rose sensing something off got down to business thankfully because Jeremy felt tension, hurt, and anger rolling off in waves from Damon's form.

"_Unfortunately, I don't have any news on the siring front…"_

Rose sighed._"Klaus didn't sire me, no original did. It was __Mary Porter_**.**_ "_

Jeremy's brows furrowed as he relayed the info. "She was sired by someone named, _Mary Porter._"

Damon groaned with a frustrated look his face. "Scary Mary." He muttered.

Looking to his side he questioned the seemingly empty space beside him, feeling a little stupid for doing so. "Well, where is she Rose?"

She shook her head._ "I didn't keep track of her when I was alive, much less now…"_

Rose sighed_. "Tell him to sit tight, relax…I'll see what I can find out."_

Then she was gone.

Jeremy sighed and told Damon what Rose told him, which didn't make Damon any more relaxed.

They sat in silence resting back, Damon laying on his back and Jeremy against the chair looking at nothing in particular. "So I guess this is it…waiting time." Damon mumbled felling restless.

Jeremy gazed at Damon who had his eyes shut, his mind returning to the comment Rose made about Damon and his sister.

"Where's Elena?" he blurted out.

Damon's eyes snapped open and his muscles tensed staying silent, hoping Jeremy would drop it.

"Where is she?" Damon stayed still and quiet for a few minutes.

"She's - she didn't come with me, I came alone." He answered vaguely.

Jeremy felt a stirring in his gut, something happened…he knew it and needed to know for sure.

"Damon…where _is _she."

"I told you, she's not here," he said, his voice sounding strangely small; he was scared to tell the kid…he was here in Denver to avoid the worry and dangers in Mystic Falls and it was already a touchy enough subject.

"Okay, I get that. But is she in _Mystic Falls?" _He asked sounding more suspicious.

"No." he said simply.

"No?"

"No." he repeated mechanically.

The chair rattled as Jeremy stood up abruptly. "Then _where is she _Damon?" he spoke vehemently.

Damon sat up and shook his head feeling angry and annoyed. "I. don't . know. Please just drop it."

"No! I won't because she's my sister, the last _freaking _family member that I have on this planet!" Jeremy said sounding desperate.

Damon stood up in a blink of an eye, anger distorting his features. "You don't think I know that? You don't think I'm worried, too?" His breathing was unsteady.

"How the hell do you _not _know where she is?" Jeremy asked with narrow eyes.

"Because she just disappeared okay, all she left was a god damned vague note in her place!" He sat down cradling his head in his hands, the urge to rip something apart burning inside him. He was already angry enough about the whole thing; he felt slightly betrayed by Elena, but a part of him couldn't hate her.

Damon felt that if she had disappeared she had a serious good reason, she wouldn't run and leave everything in their hands out of cowardice, Elena was strong and a fighter – she didn't even like letting anyone put themselves on the line for her.

Jeremy sat back down his left leg fidgeting.

"How long has she been gone?" There was heavy silence for a few moments.

"A few months give or take…" he replied honestly, his anger waning.

He glanced up at Jeremy's face, seeing fury there. "And no one decided to tell me?"

"The point of you being here in Denver is to get away from all that stuff back in Mystic Falls, Jeremy." Damon gave him a pointed look before turning away, taking in deep calming breaths; he really didn't need to fly off the handle and let his anger take control again – they didn't have time for it.

"But it's _Elena_."

"You don't think I know what that means? I know, but right now we need to sort out this mess. I don't like it, but we have to trust that she'll keep safe and not do anything stupid." The words tasted vile in his mouth, if he didn't have to track down 'Scary Mary' he'd be tearing apart towns to find her without thought, everyone else be damned.

Jeremy was silent for a second, collapsing into the chair again, head tipped back in anger. "Fine, whatever." He bit back and Damon was a little taken back that Jeremy settled so easy.

Turning around he observed Jeremy, looking for signs of a surprise plan but found none.

Sighing he sat down again running his fingers through his hair mumbling. "Just sit tight."

_**XxX**_

The salt assaulted her taste buds and the lime juice lingered at the back of her throat before she knocked back the shot of tequila. Beside her Rownan grimaced at the burn of salt, citrus, and tequila.

Elena laughed at his expression, it was honestly priceless.

They glanced at each other as their fingers wrapped around another shot glass, repeating the same ministrations.

Rownan suddenly coughed, making her laugh again as well as himself in between coughs.

"You're face is the shade of hot house tomato." Her fingers tapped his cheek.

Rownan licked his salted lips.

"I'm so blaming you for this." He grinned despite his words.

Elena put a hand over her heart and gasped dramatically. " Uh, how rude. Honestly, how is it my fault you're choking on the stuff, Mr. Macho?" a dark eyebrow arched.

"Um, because I told you I hadn't drunk tequila since my high school days and you picked it, you _so _cheated. I'm weak against it's evil powers." He whined playfully but Elena shrugged grinning cheekily.

"Well when you suggested a light competition of who can drink until they choke, I decided to use it against you." Rownan laughed his face returning to normal colour.

"You do know I made that game up just an hour ago right." He smirked at her.

"Yes, hence my using the knowledge against you – I wanted you to choke and I hey, I decided to be fair because tequila isn't something I have often either."

"Yea, yea – I guess I've learned that I'll _never _let you know any of my other weaknesse s_ever again_." He pouted.

"Baby." Her finger tapped against his pouting lips.

"Whatever." He sighed still smiling.

Elena ordered for real this time.

Her eyes lit up when the bartender added the final touches before her eyes and handed her the drink.

Not even a minute later and she had her lips latched onto the edge of the glass, green liquid pouring down her throat.

"Absinthe, really? You're gonna end up flashing somebody, stripping down, and dancing in my apartment with a lampshade and a pink thong on your head – and this poor guy here is gonna have to fight off all your admirers and tempting come-ons." He pointed towards himself with a smirk.

Elena ignored him and continued drinking.

"Actually that isn't too bad of a night…I get drinks, a show, and some sexy time—so here ya go, drink up!" he tipped the drink back further with a Cheshire grin.

Elena hurriedly ripped the drink from her mouth, the liquid sloshed and dripped down the glass. Licking her lips, she glared at him. "Seriously? In your dreams."

"Ouch, put away the claws missy – is someone hungry?" he whispered.

"No, and you're such a kid I swear." She pushed him away.

"You're having fun though aren't you?" he drank from the glass he had forgotten after they had started doing shots.

"I admit it, yes," she shook out her hair, pushing it behind her ear.

"I promised I would show you a good time," he said, taking another sip before his voice got serious.

"But seriously, are you okay?" Elena knew what he was referring to and she nodded.

Why did he think she was ordering drinks?

Elena felt someone looking at her, so she turned around, catching a pair of slightly glassy green eyes narrowed at her. She smiled as she turned back to the bar.

Before she started speaking, Elena checked on the location of the bartender when she spotted him further away from them, mixing a drink in front of a couple while chatting away.

"Why are you smiling?" Rownan asked brow raised.

Elena shook her head.

"Are _you _thirsty?" she asked simply.

"Uh, not terribly but I could definitely could feed…why?" he raised a brow at her.

"That blonde has had her eyes all over you all night; she keeps glaring at me whenever I speak just one word to you." Rownan turned around and she saw his lips curl.

"Well I guess it's my duty to save you from jealous women and undeserved attacks huh?" He sighed but grinned at her, acting like what he was about to do was some huge arduous task.

Finishing off his drink, Rownan left a tip on the bar and rummaged in his pocket for the card key belonging to their room.

Elena grabbed it and just as he turned to leave, her fingers wrapped around his bicep and she looked him in the eyes. "Be careful okay?" He smiled reassuringly and walked away from her grasp.

Sighing, she finished her own drink and slipped the card key in her clutch before walking out the door.

Despite the consumption of alcohol she'd begun to feel the hunger inside rising up.

Cool air hit her bare shoulders and seeped past her black lace printed tights, the heels of her boots clicking softly against the pavement. She rounded the corner and when she passed a drunken couple entangled in each other's arms she leaned against the vacant area to catch her breath.

Inside the bar, many people had begun piling in for "happy hour." The scent of intoxication and rushing blood had strengthened with each living body that entered. Elena had begun to get dizzy and her throat had begun to ache.

At some point she had begun mindlessly flirting with a poor, good looking guy. She was so close to compelling him to come with her somewhere quiet and isolated just so she could sink her fangs into his pulsating neck and extract every drop of blood from his warm vessel.

Thankfully, Rownan had pulled her to his side for a brief dance and then had paid for her drinks, just like he'd promised he would. He'd distracted her with the silly competition.

But now she had no one to distract her except herself, and at this moment she didn't have enough faith in her own restraint.

Her hands began to shake as she opened up her clutch, digging through it before pulling out a Zippo with a black and red rose carved on one side and the other with red-lipstick kisses and the image of lips with fangs protruding from the mouth in a 'vampire grin'.

Elena pulled out one of two fairly new packages of cigarettes that she had bought when scoping out for a 'meal' and acting like a normal human being. Her fingers pulled out one lucky strike cigarette and she popped into her mouth nonchalantly. As soon as she lighted it the taste invaded her mouth and she felt subdued.

She was no smoker, but she enjoyed a cigarette on occasion when she felt like she needed to distract herself. Her mother's older brother had smoked until he couldn't take the side effects anymore, and he died while she was fairly young. She'd only now allowed it because her insides healed themselves fairly quickly from any damage she was doing to herself.

Her nose as well had adapted to the smell from childhood years toa point where she actually liked it and could tolerate it, along with campfire smoke.

That was her absolute favorite, the scent of wood smoking and lingering on clothes. It reminded her of simpler times when her parents were alive and took them on camping trips.

When her grandparents were alive they'd teach her how to cook with a campfire and how to build one as well as maintaining the lifespan of a fire.

Sighing to herself she blew out the smoke which billowed above her head, twisting and disappearing before it reached the top of the bar.

She continued until her body leant relaxed against the brick of the building. She dropped the stick to the ground, crushing it underneath her heel after a few minutes. She retrieved her secret vodka filled flask and drank a swig before throwing it back in along with the purse.

Throwing her lighter into her purse with a snap, she began walking away from the building and in the direction of the motel, taking in cool night air in her lungs.

Humming to herself she looked up at the sky, clouds covering the sky in charcoal gray; the sun was almost gone, and slivers of light shone here and there.

The outline of the moon was appearing in the sun's place.

Sighing to herself for a second she looked down at her feet before returning to the darkening sky.

Her humming turned to soft singing.

Elena adjusted the straps on the sweetheart fronted, silky chiffon, floral print dress that was painted in summery tones; the fabric reached her ankles in the back and in the front it reached her knees in uneven edges. The back billowed softly and cape-like against her legs.

Suddenly she bumped into a solid figure and went flying backwards. Her hand instinctively shot out and caught her fall, pebbles and tiny slivers of glass cut shallowly sliced her palms. Ignoring the throbbing of her hands she got up, retrieved her bag and brushed any lingering pebbles from her healed skin.

Lingering blood smeared against her palms surface as her skin reabsorbed it.

Looking up, a retort died in it's place as her eyes took in the cut on the stranger's arm.

Red was bubbling up and past the superficial wound and she felt her throat go dry at the sight. The hunger slammed back into her body, invading her senses.

"Miss…Miss are you alright?" the man's deep voice slurred, gazing into his eyes she pressed her lips together tightly feeling her fangs peek through from her gums.

Her body began to react according to the situation, to get what her predatory side wanted.

Her fingers encircled his wrist tightly, the tips of her nails resting on some of the exposed flesh. He winced lowly, and looked down at her hand, nails digging deeper into the cut.

Without thinking her free hand was tilting his chin upwards so his eyes were on hers.

Her pupils dilated, not worrying about seeing her change. "Follow me and be quiet." She commanded quietly, her mind completely focused on one thing only now.

Elena let go of his wrist and walked down the sidewalk past a few houses and through an abandoned park, she turned the corner of a wall and was on him in a second.

His back hit the wall and she saw him sober up and begin panicking.

Her finger pressed against his lips. "You're not going to scream, you're just going to stay here until I let you go." Elena let the change happen and she parted her lips feeling the ache in her jaw relieve itself. It was almost like a snake unhinging it's own jaw in preparation for the kill.

Silently, a part of her hoped she could control herself and not kill, especially not tear him apart.

In a flash her sharp incisors cut through his flesh like butter, warm blood pouring down her throat smoothly. She almost sighed; his blood was spiked richly with alcohol and tasted sweet like candy. Elena's mouth would've watered if it wasn't busy already.

Her lips curled as she took another pull of him.

His body was going slack and she heard his heart thrumming gently now, her breathing was unsteady.

Pure ecstasy washed after her with every drop and only rose when she felt the shift in her like so many times before.

Her teeth embedded deeper into the flesh of their own accord.

Elena began chewing, the flesh and arteries resisting with a squishing sound, and more blood poured down her throat.

The man under her had seemed to get his second wind because he began struggling as much as he could under her hold. Blood coated her mouth and he made small noises of protest, but even if he could get physically free from her grasp, he wouldn't because of compulsion.

She pressed him harder against the wall, both of them sinking, her arms wrapped around him tightly.

Under her fingers she felt bones snap and muscles tense in pain, but she couldn't pull away.

His movements were slowing and his limbs becoming lead, muscles relaxing as she tore deeper in his neck, relishing in the feeling of the kill.

Elena wouldn't stop until he quieted entirely, until she claimed as much of his life source as she could.

Inside, her head was warring, a part of her was screaming for her to stop before she decapitated another innocent person. The other seductively whispered to enjoy herself and to let instincts override everything around her.

Her legs felt unsteady as the body slunk lower, gravity pulling the two down.

Elena's knees met concrete, blood coating her victim's shirt as the light inside his eyes died away and the color clouded over.

His head hit the wall and hung of his neck before rolling to the floor.

Blankly her fingers grasped the side of the head, dripping with leftover blood and she lifted it to look in his eyes. Elena half expected for him to re-animate and a scream to coming out of his mouth.

As she set his head down atop of his body with a squish, his eyes rolled back in his head so suddenly it almost made her jolt and his mouth was still parted enough to look like something out of the 'Scream' painting by Edward Munich.

Blood dripped down her chin onto the dead body as she rummaged around in her purse for a cigarette and her lighter, as well as the flask of vodka she stowed away for emergencies. Opening the top she doused the body in alcohol and lit the cigarette, inhaling the scent before throwing it on the body.

Instantly the body went up in flames, she couldn't look away for a few minutes – she was utterly transfixed by the image of the burning body, blood seeping deeper into the clothing.

For the third time that week she felt eyes resting on her back.

Forgetting her appearance, she turned on her heel and met with familiar cerulean ice eyes she wouldn't misplace _ever, _even in the afterlife. Her breath caught in her throat and she blurred away before he could get a good look at her, at least she hopped he hadn't already.

_**Xxx**_

Damon had decided to take a short walk, but he had fought with himself – not wanting to leave Jeremy alone but needing to be by himself to think for a few minutes and to clear his head.

Ever since they talked about the thing with Elena, he couldn't stop mulling over and questioning himself.

He'd been fighting thoughts of her because he knew he couldn't let it get to him; he needed to be focused on what was going on in front of him. Even when he found Elena, he wasn't sure she would want to return to her hometown, or if she'd even be able to if Klaus and his lackey's kept running around in town.

Taking a deep breath, he strolled down the street silently letting his thoughts rush in his head.

What if she was dead?

Again, something he couldn't handle.

She couldn't be dead, people needed her, and he needed her.

He knew it was selfish but for his sake she had to be alive.

Damon might as well stake the vampire that sired his line and get it over with if she wasn't breathing anymore.

Sighing he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

_I really must be turning into Stefan.  
_

Kicking a stray stone he sighed at himself for his ridiculousness and patheticness.

He slowed his paced as he saw a welcome sign into the nearby park.

Damon didn't even acknowledge it properly, letting his thoughts wander again.

That is until he saw vibrant red and orange flickering off the pavement and on the edge of his vision.

Looking up he saw the figure of a woman, her back was to him and shaded in the dark. However the limp body was clear as day in front of him, burning and the whites of his eyes showing.

Damon stiffened.

_Scary Mary?_

He steeled himself for an attack, eyes narrowed and ready to get answers.

Damon took a few steps warily closer to the woman's form.

She turned her head to the side, clearly aware of him now.

He saw a red tinge on the side of the woman's chin and then she faced him, features casted in shadow but Damon couldn't believe who he was seeing.

Damon stood frozen as he looked into pools of brown he had become accustomed over the years. His mouth parted to speak and his body moved to reach out towards her but she was gone in a blink of an eye.

He stood staring at the burning body with furrowed brows confused more than earlier.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Hope you all are enjoying this story of mine!_

_More to come soon keep on reading and maybe comment on anything you'd like to see? ;D  
_


	6. Chapter 6: The Escape

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries which includes both the book and T.V. series. Only L.J. smith owns the character's and anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries series. I merely am writing a fanfiction plot I came up with and any made up character's that aren't affiliated with Vampire Diaries I do own.**_

_**Summary: **__No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun. No more can she curse for the things she has done. Reaching for what she once had, she leaves destruction, suffering and bodies in her wake. She is the _Ripper_**. **__Is salvation a possibility for her, who will be the one to offer it to her? Prince charming on his white horse or the dark knight who will kill for her._

_**Authors note: **_Sorry for the long wait guys, but please enjoy. ( I admit I've been a little too caught up in the Summer days.)

**Also big thanks to tvdlover247 ****.Hope you guys are enjoying this Summer weather~  
**

_**Songs in order (one song per each scene or POV): **_Move on Me - by Fink. (Elena's scene, last POV.)

* * *

It was silent for a minute before he cradled his phone to his ear, striding out of the cell and locking it behind him as he sat at the foot of the steps.

"So?"

Stefan crossed his arms, his face devoid of emotion as he leaned against the wall. "So what?"

He could practically hear Klaus smile mockingly from the other end of the line. "Has he talked yet?"

Stefan pictured Rebecca off to the side, staring at her nails with an expression of boredom clouding her own features.

"No." Stefan stated simply.

It was silent for a few minutes before Klaus answered. "What do you mean he hasn't talked? We have a deal – or did you forget?" the Hybrid Original questioned, his voice laced with a promise of dark threats.

"He hasn't, like I said."

Klaus laughed humorlessly. "I see…tell me what you have done to try, please enlighten me? Maybe I can offer some suggestions."

"I attacked him, but not enough to kill him." Klaus hummed appreciatively before clucking his tongue.

"I like your plan—but honestly, it's _weak._" Klaus stated.

"Would you rather I killed him then?"

"Well, I think you have an idea there." He said with appraisal.

"He wasn't wearing his rin-"

"Exactly, did you stop and think the cause of the alter ego could be a possible trigger if you knocked him out?" Stefan was silent as a frown grew on his face.

"Get that stake at any cost, or you'll _regret it_." The line went dead in an instant, leaving no room for a response.

Sighing Stefan pocketed his phone and walked to the cell, opening it and leaning against the same wall he had been against all night before the fight.

Rick was glancing at the floor, idly toying with the ring.

"You think they've got Jeremy by now?" Stefan's eyes were trained against the wall, his head tipped back slightly.

"They should, but I haven't heard from them…" he trailed off.

Stefan felt Alaric's eyes fix on him but he stayed rooted to his spot.

"Elena's worried about him," He glanced at Alaric, then back at the wall, "knowing she can't count on his ring anymore."

Alaric smiled to himself, humor coloring his tone. "Who knows, maybe his alter-ego is a pot smoking hippie pacifist…" Stefan smiled alongside with him, letting out a breathy laugh at Alaric's humorous take on a bad situation.

Stefan closed his eyes. "Yeah maybe," His fingers curled around the glass tumbler resting against his legs.

The hunter let out a loud sigh. "I can't say I knew mine would be so hostile and militant…" he heard sadness there, the humor dying down.

Stefan turned towards Alaric who had a stoic look on his face. "Actually, it makes perfect sense,"

Alaric turned to him, his eyes dark and faraway. "Your wife left you to become a vampire and your girlfriend was…killed by one." A pang of hurt crossed his eyes at the mention of Jenna, the wound still too fresh.

Alaric looked away, fingering the ring. "You must really hate me,"

He took another breath, continuing disdainfully. "Here I am the failed hunter that drinks with his prey on a daily basis," Ric turned towards him something unreadable in his eyes a haunting of shadows spilling into the depths.

"He's too judgmental," He glanced at Ric again before settling back in his spot.

"The thing is…he's _me_."

"I'm not compelled, I'm not possessed, there's no humanity switch." Stefan observed Ric and saw a beaten down man, who had basically lost everything near and dear to him. Who had been screwed over time and time again.

He felt empathy, he was sure that just like himself, Ric was probably blaming himself for his loss – setting himself up as the one who should take the fault of what happened to Jenna and Isobel even if he hadn't directly caused the tragedies. Stefan had been the same with Katherine. There wasn't a time when he hadn't been angry at himself for having vervain in his bloodstream that day she was set up.

Alaric's dark voice broke him out of his thoughts as he focused on what the man was conveying.

"What drives him is me."

"No, no he's not you." He shook his head slightly.

"He's the darkest parts of you," Stefan knew all about inner demons and darker parts of the self. He'd fought with one for decades and he was still fighting the beast wanting to get out and bring ultimate destruction. But, the dark part wasn't _him_ fully, only merely a fragment in what made his being.

"Parts we all have."

"Well this is depressing, isn't it?" At the sound of the voice they turned to see Klaus stride in with his usual arrogant smirk before leaning against the cell's doorframe.

Stefan stood up with a look of disgust burning in his eyes, he felt Alaric take a stand behind him.

"Well, I...uh found this upstairs," Klaus' smirk melted off as a look of pure fury burn in his eyes and settle in the lines of his face as he shook the stake in front of their eyes, nearly breaking it with the strong force of his grip.

Yeah, he failed to mention that he had an _extra_ stake.

He cursed mentally at not hiding it better.

He stopped in front of Stefan and looked him in the eyes. "Now by my account, there should be one more."

"Yeah, well…it's gonna take a little more time." He wouldn't let Klaus push him around.

Pointing the stake at the solemn and exhausted looking hunter impatience laced his tone. "Why? Because we're waiting for that one to pass out?"

Stefan sighed quietly to himself. "No thanks, I think I'll just kill him." He taunted.

"Well then, you won't know the other location of the other stake." Stefan folded his arms and looked at Klaus reproachfully.

As soon as the words passed Klaus' lips Stefan made a move to stop him, place his hands on his chest in an act to prevent something unnecessary and drastic from happening. "I can live with that."

"Well I can't," Klaus stepped back for a second, sneering at Stefan.

"When we staked Fin, we discovered killing an Original vampire, killed his entire bloodline." At the mention of his dead brother something flitted through his eyes before they turned back to their cold, uncaring and hard state

"Now, I don't know which one of you I'm descended from, but I would really rather not find out by dying so...Why don't we just find the stake and destroy it so we can all be safe."

"So the fate of the entire vampire race depends on you, finding a _stake_?" he spoke with incredulity.

"And to get it we need you," he pointed at Alaric again looking away from the vampire in front of him for a fraction of a second before returning to Stefan.

"To pass out?"

His voice rose now, every fiber of his body screaming smoldering anger. "Which means I, feel totally justified, by doing _this_." Before recognition hit Stefan, Klaus already had Alaric by the neck and without hesitation applied enough force against his neck with his fist to knock him to the ground with a loud resounding thud and pass out cold.

A cruel malicious smile adorned his lips. "There, sleeping like a baby."

Stefan stared at Klaus half shadowed form and grinded his teeth together, this was not how tonight was supposed to go.

* * *

Fear and panic heavily hit her bloodstream.

She had run into the forest, letting its shadows engulf her form as she continued on.

With heavy breaths passing her lips she felt the warmth and wetness of her own tears hitting her cheeks and sliding down past her chin and falling onto the earth.

The wind picked up as she raced through the forest trail, trying to escape the vision of those cerulean eyes that had set her nerves on fire tonight and so many other times before.

Her vision began to blur slightly, her peripherals becoming hazy.

Elena wasn't sure if Damon was chasing after her, but she wasn't going to take the chance.

So much for a stress-free, fun night.

The impact of her feet meeting the concrete echoed into the night, mingling with the sound of her gasping breaths.

Her main goal was to get the hell out of this place and as far away from _him_ as soon as possible.

How could this be happening to her twice in one week?

What had he been doing in Denver anyways? Perhaps visiting her brother? Anger stirred within her at the thought.

Jeremy was to be left alone by everyone tied to the fiasco in Mystic Falls. He was sent away for a reason: his safety. No one else was supposed to interact with him.

Yes, it was hypocritical. But he was her _brother_ – even if they didn't have the same biological father. She hadn't seen him for many months. Elena happened to be going to Denver, so why not? She had every right to see him, and after everything that happened she needed to at least see his face.

Lost in her thoughts Elena, an incoming vehicle almost hit her—but thankfully she had been fast enough to miss it, no doubt scaring the driver.

Not once did she turn around, she was too afraid.

Every hoot of an owl or howl of a wolf made her jump internally, especially the caws of crows she heard echoing from above.

As soon as she made it to Rownan's place she slipped in and shut the door tightly, quickly locking every bolt in place – not that it would help much against a vampire who wanted entry; it was a human habit that had occurred out of panic and a need for security.

Slowly she slid to the floor and collected herself for a few minutes, trying to come up a plan of escape.

Her fingers curled around the keycard as she forced herself to take in deep, steadying breaths. Now was not the time to let panic cloud her mind.

Closing her eyes tightly, she tilted her head back and parted her lips – lay in silence formulating a plan.

She didn't know how long she sat there with her back against the door, but as soon as she figured out what to do she heard the scraping of footsteps near her door.

She lay their quietly clutching her lapis lazuli pendant tightly in her fingers, eyes wide open staring at nothing in particular although they faced the cool gray floor.

Elena didn't dare breathe, sitting still as a statue in fear of betraying her spot—although she had an inkling that it was him and he knew she was there.

_Leave, please leave…just turn around and walk away. _

_I can't face you now. I'm not prepared. I'm not ready for this yet…just give me a little more time._

_**Please.**_

The ticking of the clock resounded throughout the space, drifting from the room Rownan occupied.

After a few minutes she heard footsteps again moving past her doorway and she instantly bolted towards Rownan's room where he had stowed her bags.

She ripped open the drawers quickly and searched for the usual complimentary pad of paper and pen hidden in the drawer.

Her fingers pawed through scraps of paper until she found what she was looking for underneath the black cover of the Bible. Her lips twisted sardonically as she placed onto the nightstand and sat on a corner of the bed.

Elena rested the pad atop her knee and uncapped the pen, furiously scratching the pen along the paper surface until ink flowed out onto the corner of the now disfigured page.

Quickly she scribbled down her message, a coded type of dialogue she and Rownan agreed on when they needed to leave town without warning the other.

Suddenly, she heard the main door's door knob turn a few times, squeaking in protest before it quieted.

A loud knock followed soon after and she practically jumped out of her skin for the hundredth time tonight.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**_ Is it Damon? Find out next chapter, I can ensure that there will be an Elena - Damon meeting very soon! ;P

Hope you enjoyed this short chapter~ Read on! ^^


	7. Chapter 7: Escape II

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries which includes both the book and T.V. series. Only L.J. smith owns the character's and anything affiliated with the Vampire Diaries series. I merely am writing a fanfiction plot I came up with and any made up character's that aren't affiliated with Vampire Diaries I do own.**_

_**Summary: **__No more longing for the moon, no more longing for the sun. No more can she curse for the things she has done. Reaching for what she once had, she leaves destruction, suffering and bodies in her wake. She is the _Ripper_**. **__Is salvation a possibility for her, who will be the one to offer it to her? Prince charming on his white horse or the dark knight who will kill for her._

_**Author's**__**Note:**__ Big thanks to __**tvdlover247**__ for continuing to be my beta reader. Thank you everyone for reading my stuff I am so sorry for the infrequent updates, I've just been so busy and I'm going to get busier this year probably until June - It's my last year so please bare with me. Also alot of stuff has happened in my family so I will try to keep up with this. My goal is to complete one of my TVD stories this year and I hope it's this one because it keeps drawing me back in!_

**_Music:_**_ No song at this moment - __**Improvise! **__I am saving my best for the next chapter - I've got some treats outlined for the future chapters._

* * *

Instantly she stilled at the sound, her eyes resting on the half cracked open doorway to the room and peering into the darkened area beyond. They darted around the room quickly in search of an escape route—whether it be through the room's walls or the windows' glass.

Biting on her lip she slowly stood up from her spot on the bed and hastily ripped the slip of paper from the pad before folding it into a triangular shape. She rapidly sketched a rose with thorns on the plain side of the paper and shoved half of it in between the pages of the Bible on the bedside table.

Elena placed the Bible atop the bed and walked away from it slowly to retrieve her cell phone from her suitcase to send a quick text to Rowan. Shrugging on her leather jacket she stashed away her phone in her clutch before slinking past the doorway and over to the corner of the living room.

Pushing back the gauzy curtain she searched for a tear in the mesh that they'd found, probably made by many years of disuse. As soon as she found it, she pulled out the keycard she'd been handed earlier that night and slipped it through the slit. It'd be visible enough that if someone who searched for it – specifically Rowan—they would find it, especially after texting Rowan the whereabouts of the card.

She closed her eyes for a few moments before taking a steadying breath to steel her nerves. Slowly she walked towards the window next to the other window closest to the door and peeked around the edge of the curtain to see black booted feet rooted to the ground. Her fingers trembled as she tried to get a good look at the owner's face without giving her identity away.

Another hard knock shook her out of her daze and she jumped back from the curtain a hand over her heart as her throat tightened up and her mouth went dry.

When she pushed aside the curtain this time she was greeted with black boots attached to dark jeans leading up to blue, deep eyes. It took her a few seconds to step back, startled.

Elena's mind ran a mile a minute as she just stood there staring at the ground.

She took another calming breath before pressing herself against the wall behind the door.

Slowly she unbolted the locks and pressed herself tightly against the wall waiting for the  
door to open.

The door gently swung open with a loud, echoing creak as the sound of heavy footsteps reverberated in the night and against the walls of the room. Elena dared not breathe or move an inch in fear of giving herself away. Her eyes trained themselves to the side where she knew he would be unveiled in front of her.

The scent of leather and spicy musk mixed with sandalwood and many other deep, alluring scents attacked her senses first before she saw him.

Her eyes took in his form as he walked past the doorway and into the living room cautiously. The doorway stayed open behind him, letting moonlight creep across the floorboards and onto his figure. Black tufts of hair were artfully mussed along his crown.  
His fingers were clenched slightly and his movements stiff and hesitant.

With her own fingers clenching, she watched as he took steps deeper into the hotel room.

Every minute her body was urging her to either get out of there or to reveal herself and give in to him.

As quiet and quickly as she could, she stepped out of her spot and slipped out of the doorway and into the night.

She sped down the wooden steps not caring if someone spotted her inhuman speed.

As she ran, her stomach churned and her gut clenched in foreboding.

XxX

Elena sighed to herself and placed her head in her hands.

She sat in a booth of a small, dimly lit café god knows where in Denver; there was the hush of voices belonging to the few customers here.

Soft music played from some jukebox in the back, failing to lighten or darken the atmosphere. It was just insignificant noise to her ears at the moment.

A warm, half drunken coffee sat in front of her growing cold by the minute but she could care less—her head was elsewhere.

She felt stupid. Regret surged through her for running away.

Maybe she should just ask for help where help was due, but in her heart she didn't want to add more burdens to her friends and what was left of her family.  
Was she hurting them more by staying away?

Elena felt that if she was there and behaved the way she did know, it would further  
complicate the entire situation.

It was her weight to bear.

But seeing him again made her question everything—which is what she avoided doing up to this point because if she seriously and fully questioned herself and thought more about it, she knew she would have stayed.

To think it all started with an 'accident'. An accident she really didn't want to think much more about, it would cause her to further spiral.

She was on the road to recovery after all.

Slouching against the back of the vinyl booth she rubbed her eyes tiredly and gulped down the remaining half of her chilled coffee with distaste.

Elena retrieved her phone from her clutch as her free hand ran through her hair out of frustration and worry.

She was greeted with a text from Rownan.

Call me.

Getting up from her spot in the restaurant, she deposited a few bills onto the table before dialing the number.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked worriedly.

She heard giggling and loud music in the background but ignored it.

"Nothing major, except I just almost had a face-to-face reunion with someone I really shouldn't." She knew he'd get the hint.  
It was silent for a moment before she heard a rustling and movement on the other end.  
"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine but it looks like I won't be returning for a bit – I left my luggage in the room."

She sighed and rubbed her eyes again in irritation.

"Want me to come get you? I can leave right now."

"No, I'm going to take a walk – I don't want to interrupt your 'fun'." She smirked humorlessly and tiredly at her words.

"If you need me there, just call. I've already had my fun three times over anyways." She heard him laugh which caused her to roll her eyes.

She got up and exited the café grinning slightly involuntarily.

"Okay too many details. I'm going now – play nice."

"Don't do anything I would do." He said jokingly.

"That's the best advice you've given me yet."

"Don't be mean; I'm leaving now before you hurt my feelings any more tonight."

"Aw well sorry, bye!"

Elena hung up before he could protest and she took a deep breath of cool air into her lungs.

Returning her phone to her purse she took a stroll down the dark and quiet street, the soft lighting of the café poured out from the windows and crawled a short distance across the pavement.

She gazed at her feet as she walked slowly, her breaths leaving in puffs of smoke.

The night was silent except for the soft chirp of crickets and a few cars going by in the distance. She even heard some houses' television sets blaring reality dramas.

By habit her arms curled around her form even though she wasn't cold – she always did this as if to either comfort or hold herself together in one piece.  
She ducked into an open alleyway and started chewing on her bottom lip absently as she rubbed the palms of her hands against her arms briskly.

Elena had so many thoughts entering and leaving her brain that she almost missed the scrape of soles against worn asphalt. Every hair on her body prickled and she felt her muscles tense. Her blood pumped furiously in her body—adrenaline rushing through her, ready for a fight or an escape.

The footsteps behind her were paced and calm at first, but as soon as Elena sped up even  
slightly, so did the person behind her.

She wasn't scared of the person behind her necessarily; she was more frightened for them if they were human and she was scared that it could be anyone from Mystic Falls who would recognize her – namely people like Bonnie, Caroline – the whole Scooby Gang.

Elena turned sharply out of the alleyway and down a corner.

It was when the wind picked up for a short breeze did she stiffen at the scent that had assaulted her not once tonight, but twice. Her blood went cold as her fingers dug into her clothed flesh and her teeth clenched.

Elena ducked into another quiet seemingly unoccupied alleyway quickly, she was trying to shake him but she doubted she could do it.

She heard a car behind her and instinctively she lifted her gaze to see a familiar car heading down in the opposite direction.

Her eyes narrowed in curiosity.

Isn't that Damon's car?

What does it matter; I should be distancing myself from him.

Where is he heading though?

Shouldn't you be happy that he's away from the motel?

As her eyes focused on the front seat's windows she heard Damon's voice as he spoke with a familiar voice she knew as well as her own.

Jer?

Elena stood there with widened eyes as numerous thoughts ran a mile a minute through her brain. Her lips were curled into a frown and her brows furrowed in concentration.

Catching her bottom lip between her teeth her body stilled entirely in shock as her eyes widened further and her lips parted.

All along, the motel that she was staying at.

Was it possible that they were at the same motel?

Her legs moved before the thought entered her mind; they took her out of the shadows of the alleyway.

That was her worst mistake because the unmistakable scent of sandalwood hit her strong enough to dumbfound her for a few seconds.

Her body was hit with another wave of panic.

That was all it took for her to be pulled tightly against a hard body and her protests to be silenced by calloused fingers.

* * *

_**Author's Note:**__ Hope you liked it, bare with me and thanks for reading~ =D_


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